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THE  AUTHORS  AND  NEWSPAPERS  ASSOCIATION 


.&- 


CHLx 


UNIV.  O?  GALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGELES 


The  House  of  Defence 


By 

d   h  resf'fr*  c 


E.  F.  BENSON 

Author  of 

"  The  Image  in  the  Sand" 

"Dodo,"  "Scarlet  and  Hyssop" 

"Mammon  &  Co.,"   "The  Cballoners," 

"  The  Angel  of  Pain,"  Etc. 


Illustrated  in  Water-Colors  by  H.  RICHARD  BOEHM 


Copyright,  1906,  by  E.  F.  Benson 


GRAND  LEADER 

SPECIAL    EDITION, 

For  Sale  exclusively  by  us  in  St.  Louis.  Mo. 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

THE  AUTHORS  AND  NEWSPAPERS  ASSOCIATION 

1906 


Copyright,  igo6y  by  E.  F.  Benson 
Entered  at  Stationer?  Hall 


All  rights  reserved 


Composition  and  Electrotyping  by 

J.  J.  Little  &  Co. 

Printed  and  bound  by  the 

Manhattan  Press,  New  York. 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


"And  in  the  West,  whither  she  was  journeying,  there  was  still  the 
afterglow  of  sunset " frontispiece 

"Then,  still  without   looking   away  from   the   water  she  spoke   to 
.hima'^ain"       ---------         37 

"You  are  better  already,  you  know,  Sandy,"  he  said  93 

"  It  is  directed  to  Thurso,"  she  said,  "and  it  is  from  that  chemist 
in  Windsor."    ---------       172 


2129130 


(FACSIMILE  P,.OB  OF  MANUSCRIPT  PROM  THE   IMAGE  IN  THE  SAND) 


THE  HOUSE  OF  DEFENCE 


IT  was  already  after  eight  in. the  evening,  but 
here,  in  these  high  latitudes  of  Caithness,  since 
the  time  of  the  year  was  within  a  fortnight  of 
midsummer,  the  sun  was  still  some  way  above 
the  horizon,  and  shone  full,  with  the  cool  bright- 
ness of  the  northern  light,  into  the  window  on 
the  seat  of  which  Lady  Maud  Stratton  was  sit- 
ting. Lady  Maud  was  waiting  without  impatience, 
for  impatience  was  foreign  to  her  habit  of  mind,, 
but  with  a  little  touch  of  anxiety,  since  affection 
and  all  the  cares  that  appertain  to  it  were  the 
constant  guests  of  her  heart,  for  her  brother's 
return.  The  room  was  of  great  extent,  and  looked 
larger  than  it  really  was  because  of  its  half -dis- 
mantled condition,  and  the  big  reflecting  surface 
of  its  bare  parquetted  floor  added  to  its  apparent 
dimensions.  In  one  corner  of  it  was  the  little 
table,  laid  for  two,  where  they  would  dine  when 
he  came  in;  in  another  was  a  writing-desk  lit- 
tered with  correspondence,  while  close  by  the  fire- 
place was  a  low  easy  chair  with  a  basket  of  needle- 


'6        THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

work  beside  it,  which  denoted  where  she  herself 
had  been  making  her  nest,  before  she  had  strolled 
across  to  the  window,  ten  minutes  ago,  to  catch 
the  last  half  hour  of  sunlight,  and  also  to  catch 
sight  of  her  brother  as  he  came  up  the  road  to- 
wards the  lodge.  Though  the  season  was  mid- 
June,  a  sparkle  of  fire,  born  of  a  delectable  mix- 
lure  of  peat  and  coal,  burned  on  the  hearth,  mak- 
ing a  pleasant  brightness  to  the  eye,  and  destined 
after  sunset  to  make  a  not  unpleasant  warmth, 
'for  nights  even  now  set  in  with  a  certain  chilli- 
ness, and  this  evening  especially,  in  spite  of  the 
hlazing  glories  of  the  low  sun,  there  was  that  crys- 
talline clearness  in  the  air  which  usually  led  on  to 
frost  when  its  direct  rays  were  withdrawn.  For 
the  house  stood  high  and  exposed  on  those  gray- 
purple  heathered  hills  of  Caithness,  not  seeking 
protection  from  hollowed  and  sheltered  valley  or 
screen  of  trees,  and  the  rigors  of  cold  and  frost 
were  felt  there  without  abatement. 

The  table  laid  for  dinner  in  one  corner,  a  desk 
littered  with  correspondence,  and  a  woman's  nook 
near  the  fireplace,  all  in  the  same  big  room,  gave 
the  impression  of  encampment  and  of  temporary 
and  unexpected  habitation,  and  this  was  borne 
out  also  by  the  holland  sheetings  which  had  not 
been  removed  from  the  big  glass  chandelier  that 
hung  from  the  middle  of  the  ceiling  and  still  en- 
veloped the  larger  articles  of  furniture.  All 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE        X 

pointed  to  a  sudden  and  not  abiding  stay,  as  if 
the  occupants  of  the  house  were  content  with  the 
necessities  of  life  and  dispensed  with  its  habitual 
adornments.  Such  indeed  was  the  case,  for  Lord 
Thurso  and  his  sister  had  arrived  here  suddenly 
two  evenings  ago,  preceded  by  a  telegram  only 
to  the  caretaker  to  make  a  room  or  two  no  more 
than  habitable,  she  merely  to  keep  him  company 
and  deliver  him  from  the  tedium  and  dejectiom 
of  solitary  evenings  after  what  must  be  anxious, 
and  depressing  days.  For  in  the  village  of  Strat- 
ton,  a  mile  below  the  lodge,  there  had  broken  out 
a  scourge  of  typhoid,  sudden  and  virulent,  and 
since  the  village,  like  everything  else  within  this 
wide  horizon,  was  part  of  Thurso 's  estate,  it  had 
seemed  to  him,  clearly  and  without  question,  to 
be  his  business  to  leave  town  and  come  up  here 
to  see  what  was  possible  to  stop  this  pestilence 
and  do  what  could  be  done  to  bring  relief  to  the 
homes  already  stricken  with  it.  Lady  Thursor 
however,  though  her  name  and  active  support 
were  ever  at  the  service  of  charitable  schemes,  had 
not  in  the  least  seen  her  way  to  accompanying  him. 
If  Thurso  thought  he  had  better  go,  why  by  all 
means  he  must  do  so,  but  there  was  clearly  no< 
useful  end  to  be  served  by  her  going  with  him. 
For  herself,  she  did  not  see  what  object  was  to 
be  gained  by  his  going,  since  he  had  already  tele- 
graphed orders  to  his  agent,  a  careful,  sensible 


8        THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

man,  to  do  all  that  the  doctors  wished  done,  but 
she  was  aware  that  she  and  Thurso  often  looked 
on  this  sort  of  question  with  different  eyes,  and 
had  no  more  attempted  to  dissuade  him  from 
going  than  he  had  attempted  to  persuade  her  to 
come  with  him.  But  it  had  seemed  perfectly  clear 
to  Maud  that  Thurso  could  not  go  all  by  himself, 
and  without  in  the  least  criticising  either  openly  or 
mentally  his  wife's  refusal  to  go  with  him,  she 
had  merely  taken  her  place.  Indeed  she  had 
scarcely  offered  her  companionship:  she  had  just 
joined  him  at  an  early  dinner  before  driving  to 
King's  Cross  to  catch  the  night  mail  and  go  north 
with  him. 

The  state  of  things  which  they  had  found  on 
their  arrival  seemed  to  them  both  to  justify  his 
coming.  A  panic-terror,  such  as  is  only  possible 
among  ignorant,  uneducated  folk,  who  are  natu- 
rally healthy,  and  know  little  of  illness  and  dis- 
ease, had  seized  the  village  at  this  sudden  striking 
down  of  the  strongest  and  healthiest  among  them. 
Mixed  with  it,  too,  was  distrust  and  fear  of  doc- 
tors, arising  from  that  same  ignorance,  and  the 
inability  to  believe  that  it  could  be  right  when  a 
man  was  prostrated  by  the  exhaustion  of  a  mortal 
weakness  produced  by  the  fever  to  deny  him  a 
morsel  of  meat  or  a  crust  of  solid  food.  Doctors 
.were  there  and  nurses,  but  it  was  not  the  medical 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE        9 

attendance,  but  the  obedience  to  the  orders  of 
nurses  and  doctors,  that  had  been  so  difficult  to 
enforce.  And  it  was  for  this  purpose  that  Lord 
Thurso  found  at  once  that  he  had  been  right  in 
coming,  since  a  word  from  him  did  more  than  a 
dozen  orders  from  a  doctor.  For  feudal  obedi- 
ence, in  spite  of  distrust  of  doctors,  was  on  his 
side,  and  now  that  the  laird  ranged  himself  on 
the  side  of  the  doctors,  who  ordered  windows  to 
be  opened  when  all  folk  of  common  sense  would 
be  inclined  to  shut  every  chink  and  cranny  by 
which  the  air  might  enter  and  give  "  cold  "  to 
the  patient,  and  forbade  solid  food  to  be  given, 
though  "  the  puir  body  was  crying  out  half  the 
nicht  for  a  bit  of  bread,"  it  was  necessary  to  fol- 
low these  incomprehensible  decrees,  since  the  laird 
also  enjoined  them,  though  many  heads  were 
shaken  over  treatment  which  seemed  obviously 
unreasonable.  Thurso  had  brought  his  valet  with 
him,  but  otherwise  the  caretaker  and  his  wife 
looked  after  the  needs  of  him  and  his  sister.  Up- 
stairs there  was  open  just  a  bedroom  for  them 
each,  and  downstairs  this  one  big  room  half- 
shrouded  in  holland  sheeting,  where  they  ate  and 
sat. 

Nature  had  for  many  generations  adopted  a 
very  sensible  and  reasonable  plan  with  regard 
to  the  Stratton  family.  They  were  extremely 
prolific,  and  numbered  their  cousins  by  the  hun- 


10      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

dred,  and  she  had  certainly  said  to  herself: 
"  There  is  not  enough  beauty  to  go  round,  so 
what  shall  I  do  about  them!  Shall  I  divide  up 
all  the  beauty  which  I  can  invest  in  each  genera- 
tion between  all  the  children,  or  shall  I  mould 
and  paint  it  all  into  one  of  them  and  let  the  rest 
look  after  themselves?  "  She  had  adopted  the 
second  alternative,  and  now  for  six  or  seven  gene- 
rations of  Strattons  there  had  always  been  one 
perfect  and  exquisite  piece  of  modelling  in  the 
successive  families,  while  the  others  had  to  be 
content  with  a  certain  air  of  distinction  and  pleas- 
antness which,  however,  made  their  plainness  a 
matter  of  small  account.  Sometimes  Nature,  one 
could  not  help  feeling,  had  made  an  error  of  judg- 
ment in  investing  the  beauty  of  some  one  genera- 
tion in  a  boy  and  not  in  a  girl,  but  in  this  genera- 
tion she  had  made  no  such  mistake,  and  here  in 
the  window  waiting  for  her  brother  was  the  lucky 
possessor  of  the  natural  fortunes  of  the  rest  of 
her  family.  Like  them  all,  she  was  tall,  and  for 
once  in  a  way  expression  and  charm  were  not 
sacrificed,  as  so  often  happens  to  mere  perfection 
of  feature.  For  violet  eyes  are  so  often  no  more 
than  violet  eyes,  just  pieces  of  beautiful  color,  but 
here  the  thousand  moods  of  the  girl's  mind  that 
like  clouds  and  alternate  sunshine  on  some  windy 
spring  day  chased  each  other  across  some  azure 
surface,  were  reflected  from  the  depths  of  those 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       11 

violet  pools,  and  through  the  beautiful  windows 
there  looked  out  a  beautiful  soul.  Humor  and  an 
alert  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  so  valuable  a  weapon 
in  that  mental  armory  with  which  we  have  to 
repel  the  assaults  of  adverse  and  annoying  cir- 
cumstances, were  there  also,  ready  to  set  the 
mouth  smiling;  intense  and  kindly  interest  in  the 
spectacle  of  life  shone  there,  and  deep  down  in 
them  you  would  say  that  something  not  yet  fully 
awake  slept,  and  perhaps  dreamed,  in  its  twenty 
years '  slumber.  And  a  man  might  find  the  breath 
catch  at  the  thought  of  awakening  that. 

Like  all  the  Strattons,  she  was  very  fair  of 
complexion,  but  her  hair  was  not  of  that  vague 
straw-color  which  loosely  passes  for  gold,  but 
of  that  tint  touched  and  illuminated  by  orange 
color  which  made  it  gleam  as  if  the  unminted  metal 
shone  in  it.  It  grew  low  on  her  forehead  and 
abundantly,  but  not  in  those  excessive  quantities 
that  instantly  make  the  observer  think  of  the 
ladies  who  stand  all  day  with  their  backs  to  the 
windows  of  popular  thoroughfares  in  order  to 
display  the  riotous  excess  of  capillary  covering 
which  the  use  of  some  particular  dressing  for  the 
head  unfortunately  results  in.  Nor  again  was 
her  mouth  that  perfect  "  Cupid's  bow  "  which  is 
so  dear  to  the  creators  of  feminine  perfection.  It 
was  not  indeed  like  a  bow  at  all;  it  was  rather 
large,  and  rather  full-lipped,  but,  like  her  eyes, 


12       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

or  like  aspen  leaves  in  spring,  it  was  all  a-quiver 
with  response  to  the  mood  of  the  moment.  Nor 
were  her  lips  vermilion,  a  hue  that  nature  hap- 
pily does  not  use  on  the  human  mouth,  leaving  its 
employment  to  art,  but  they  were  of  that  veiled 
blood-tint  that  speaks  of  youth  and  vitality  as 
surely  as  vermilion  speaks  only  of  the  desire  to 
appear  to  be  the  possessor  of  these  excellent  gifts. 

Thurso  was  naturally  of  extremely  impression- 
able and  imaginative  mind,  and  the  day,  spent 
as  it  had  been  in  going  from  house  to  house,  find- 
ing wherever  he  went  the  apparatus  of  illness, 
or  the  simpler  and  grimmer  apparatus  of  death, 
had  been  like  some  real  and  hideous  nightmare  to 
him.  Clearly  as  Maud  understood  and  sympa- 
thized with  his  instinct  of  coming  up  here  him- 
self, she  found  herself  wondering  whether  he  had 
been  right  to  come.  Then,  too,  he  had  tortured 
himself  with  a  hundred  pure  suppositions.  "Was 
this  epidemic  in  any  way  his  fault,  in  that  he  had 
not  had  the  water-supply  more  constantly  tested? 
Clearly,  if  everything,  drains,  pipes,  water  and 
what-not,  had  been  all  in  perfect  order  typhoid 
could  not  have  come.  These  were  his  tenants:  it 
was  his  business  to  see  that  the  conditions  under 
which  they  lived  were  sanitary. 

Now  Thurso  was  a  perfect  working-model  (as 
large  as  life)  of  the  conscientious  landlord,  and 
these  suppositions,  though  they  seemed  terribly 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       13 

real  and  totally  unanswerable  to  him  on  his  way 
back  to  the  house  at  this  same  hour  last  night, 
were  but  morbid  creations  of  his  brain,  since  all 
his  life  he  had  done  all  he  could  to  insure  the 
healthfulness  of  those  who  were  dependent  on 
him,  and  on  these  morbid  creations  Maud,  with 
her  sweetness  and  gaiety  of  spirit,  had  acted  like 
a  charm.  She  knew  well  that  Thurso  had  never 
been  neglectful  or  culpable,  and  that  being  cer- 
tain, she  had  addressed  herself  not  to  combat  his 
doubts  and  questionings,  but  to  turn  his  attention 
resolutely  away  from  them,  just  as  a  wise  nurse 
will  not  try  to  convince  a  frightened  child  that 
the  dark  contains  no  bogeys,  by  letting  the  room 
continue  dark  and  prove  by  demonstration  that 
no  winged  and  nailed  creature  is  born  therefrom, 
but  will  rather  quiet  its  fears  by  bringing  a  light. 
And  as  the  nurse  does  not  reason  to  herself  about 
the  best  treatment  for  childish  terror,  so  Maud 
did  not  reason  to  herself  about  the  best  treatment 
for  unreasonable  scruples.  She  only  said  to  her- 
self, "  Darling  old  Thurso  is  dreadfully  down. 
So  I'll  distract  his  mind  by  being  dreadfully 
foolish!  " 

So  foolish  she  had  been,  but  yet  with  art,  so  that 
it  should  not  occur  to  him  that  she  was  playing 
the  part  of  nurse,  and  bringing  a  light  because 
he  was  afraid  of  the  dark.  And  as  when  David 
played  before  Saul  to  exorcise  the  evil  spirit,  so 


14      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

she  had  played  till  he  forgot  his  imaginary  trou- 
bles in  the  charm  and  gaiety  which,  though  she 
assumed  them  deliberately,  were  yet  natural  to 
her. 

To-night,  however,  the  obsession  of  his  fear 
and  unreasonable  dependency  had  seemed  to  de- 
scend on  her,  and  it  needed  a  strong  and  conscious 
effort  to  dispel  it.  For  this  might  be  unreason- 
able, too — she  knew  that  at  the  back  of  her  mind 
she  was  anxious  about  him.  Terrible  as  this  epi- 
demic was,  it  was  producing  a  disproportionate 
effect  on  him:  he  was  taking  it  too  hardly,  and 
also  too  self-consciously.  From  her  intimate 
knowledge  of  him,  from  that  blood-instinct  also 
which  can  enable  a  sister  to  know  what  a  brother 
is  feeling,  even  though  a  wife  does  not  perceive 
it,  she  knew  that  he  was  strung  up  almost  to 
breaking-point.  Yet  she  felt,  with  a  certain  secret 
pride  in  his  courage,  that  nobody  else  but  she 
would  have  guessed  that.  For  from  childhood 
he  had  always  been  like  that,  balanced  on  an  edge, 
ready  to  topple  over  into  depths  of  despondency, 
but  with  proper  courage  he  had  concealed  his  pre- 
carious balance  from  the  world,  turning  a  brave 
and  equable  face  to  it,  even  though  he  wore  a 
mask.  But  for  her  he  wore  none:  and  she  often 
saw  his  inward  torture  when  others  only  saw  a 
pleasant,  courteous  man,  not  gay,  but  with  a 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       15 

certain  high-bred,  quiet  enjoyment  of  manner 
which  just  now  is  slightly  at  a  discount  in  the 
capital  of  the  dominion  of  the  King. 

Maud  got  up  from  her  seat  in  the  window,  for 
the  sun  had  wheeled  further  north,  leaving  it  in 
shadow,  and  closed  the  sash,  still  looking  down 
the  riband  of  road  which  ran  in  whip-lash  curves 
across  the  moor  to  the  village,  allowing  herself 
again  another  moment  for  somewhat  sombre  con- 
templation. How  inextricably  soul  and  body  were 
mixed  and  mingled  together;  how  intimately  and 
instantaneously  they  acted  and  re-acted  on  each 
other!  Thurso's  anxiety  for  these  people,  a 
purely  mental  or  spiritual  feeling,  had  kept  him 
awake  last  night,  and  he  had  come  down  this 
morning  with  one  of  those  racking  neuralgic  head- 
aches to  which  all  his  life  he  had  been  liable.  His 
suffering  of  mind  had  made  his  body  suffer,  too, 
and  that  bodily  suffering  had  reacted  again  upon 
his  mind  and  had  made  the  poor  old  boy  so  hor- 
ribly cross.  Then,  since  there  was  the  day's  work 
before  him,  for  the  sake  of  which  he  had  come  up 
here,  and  in  his  racking  pain  he  was  really  incapa- 
ble of  doing  it,  he  had  taken  the  remedy  which 
he  had  always  by  him,  in  case  of  necessity,  but 
which  he  disliked  taking  just  as  much  as  Maud 
disliked  his  taking  it. 

But  when  after  breakfast  he  had  said  to  her, 


"  Maud,  I  simply  can't  go  down  there,  and  if  I 
did,  I  couldn  't  help  in  any  way  unless  I  cure  this, ' ' 
she  had  agreed  that  it  was  an  occasion  for  lau- 
danum. 

She  strolled  across  to  the  fire  and  held  out  her 
hands  to  the  blaze,  which  shone  through  her  fin- 
gers, making  them  look  as  if  they  were  luminous 
in  themselves  and  lit  from  within.  Then  suddenly, 
with  a  little  dramatic  gesture,  as  if  she  carried 
her  trouble,  a  palpable  burden,  in  her  hands,  she 
threw  it  into  the  fire,  and  having  consigned  it  to 
destruction  walked  back  to  the  window  again. 
Yet  she  knew  in  herself  that  she  had  not  disposed 
of  it,  for  it  went  very  deep,  it  was  very  vital.  The 
sorrow  of  the  world,  how  to  reconcile  that  with 
the  perfect  love  that  made  the  world !  Indeed,  it 
needed  strong  hands  or  an  indifferent  heart  to 
cast  that  away.  .  .  .  But  there  at  last  was  a 
figure  on  the  road,  and  without  putting  on  her 
hat  she  went  out  to  meet  him. 

She  saw  at  once,  before  she  could  clearly  see 
his  face,  but  by  a  certain  age  and  dejection  in  his 
walk,  that  he  was  suffering,  but  here,  too,  it 
seemed  to  her  that  she  could  help  him  better  by 
cheerfulness,  however  vapid,  than  by  sympathy. 

"  Dear  old  boy,"  she  called  to  him  before  they 
actually  met;  "  but  have  you  any  idea  that  it  is 
half -past  eight,  and  I've  got  such  a  sinking  inside, 
Thurso,  that  I  don't  suppose  there  was  ever  such 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       17 

a  sinking  known.  I  vote  we  don't  dress,  so  we 
can  dine  at  once.  I'm  sure  dinner  is  ready,  be- 
cause I  distinctly  smelled  soup  and  something 
like  roast  and  baked  apples  all  rolling  richly  out 
of  the  kitchen  windows.  I  nearly  burst  into  tears, 
because  I  wanted  them  all  so  much.  And  how 
has  the  day  gone  ?  ' 

He  stopped.  David's  first  strain  had  not 
reached  Saul. 

"  Oh,  Maud,  it  is  too  awful,"  he  said.  "  Ten 
fresh  cases  to-day.  I  don't  know  what  to  do. 
And  when  my  head  is  like  this  I  am  perfectly 
useless.  I  can 't  think ;  I  can 't  face  things. ' '  Maud 
took  his  arm. 

"  You  poor  old  thing,"  she  said.  "  Has  it  been 
bad  all  day?  " 

"  No,  it  was  all  right  in  the  morning,  but  it 
came  on  again  worse  than  ever  after  lunch.  Well, 
not  exactly  after  lunch,  because  I  didn  't  have  any, 
but  after  lunch-time. ' ' 

Maud  gave  a  little  exclamation  of  impatience. 

"  Thurso,  you  are  too  bad!  "  she  said.  "  You 
know  perfectly  well  that  if  you  go  without  food 
too  long  you  always  get  one  of  these  headaches. 
And  it's  no  use  your  saying  there  wasn't  any  time 
for  you  to  have  lunch,  because  lunch  takes  ten 
minutes,  whereas  a  headache  takes  hours.  It  is 
foolish  of  you,  because  you  suffer,  and  it 's  wicked 


1?      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

of  yon,  dear,  because  it  makes  you  of  absolutely 
no  use  in  the  world." 

He  smiled  at  her;  the  infection  of  her  energy 
53  ve  a  little  life  to  him. 

"  Well,  I  forgot  about  lunch  till  the  pain  came 
on,"  he  said,  "  and  after  that  I  couldn't  eat." 

"  If  that  is  meant  to  mean  that  you  are  not 
going  to  have  any  dinner  either,"  she  said,  "  you 
make  a  mistake.  You  are  going  to  have  soup  and 
meat  and  roast  apples.  And  if  yon  attempt  to 
deny  it,  I  shall  instantly  add  toasted  cheese." 

Thurso  was  silent  a  moment. 

"  Ah,  those  poor,  wretched  people — "  he  began. 
But  Maud  stopped  him,  still  with  art. 

"  I'm  not  going  to  hear  one  word  about  them 
till  you  have  finished  dinner,"  she  said.  "  After- 
wards, because  you  will  be  better  then,  we  will 
talk.  Don't  you  remember  how,  if  one  wasn't 
quite  well,  Nurse  always  said  one  would  be  bet- 
ter after  dinner?  And  one  always  was.  I  wonder 
whether  it  was  dinner  or  mere  suggestion  from 
a  higher  power  that  did  it," 

"  Dinner,"  said  he  promptly.  "  Oh,  d — n  my 
head!  "  he  added  in  a  sudden  burst  of  tired  irri- 
tability and  pain. 

"  Yes,  with  pleasure,  if  that  will  help.  But  I 
wonder  if  it  was  entirely  dinner.  You  know  there 
is  something  in  suggestion,  though  I  prefer  sup- 
plementing suggestion  with  something  practical 


as  welL  Who  are  those  people  who  are  always 
quite  well  because  they  believe  they  are!  " 

"  I  should  think  they  are  fools,"  he  remarked. 
"By  the  way " 

"  Well!  " 

"  No,  nothing,"  he  said. 

Maud  withdrew  her  arm  from  his  with  dignity. 

"  That  is  extremely  ill-bred,"  she  said.  "  Mind, 
I  don't  want  to  know  what  you  were  going  to  say, 
but  having  begun  you  ought,  with  decent  manners, 
to  go  on." 

Thurso  laughed. 

"  You  do  want  to  know?  "  he  said. 

"  Well,  yes,  I  do.    Please  tell  me." 

"  I  shan't.  Maud,  I  think  I  had  better  change, 
as  I  have  been  in  and  out  of  those  houses  all  day. 
But  you  needn't." 

Maud  was  slightly  ruffled. 

"  That  is  kind  of  you,"  she  said. 

Thurso  went  upstairs  accordingly,  while  Maud 
waited  for  him  below.  There  was  indeed  no  mys- 
tery or  reason  for  secrecy  in  that  which  he  had 
stopped  himself  telling  her;  merely  he  was  not 
quite  sure  whether  he  wanted  to  do  that  which  he 
had  been  on  the  point  of  proposing,  which  in  it- 
self was  of  an  absolutely  simple  and  unexciting 
nature.  The  bare  dull  facts  indeed  were  these: 
He  had  let  the  salmon  fishing  of  the  river  here 


20      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

until  the  end  of  July  to  an  American,  whose  name 
this  moment  he  could  not  remember,  and  this 
afternoon  as  he  came  out  of  one  of  the  cottages 
he  had  passed  one  of  his  own  gillies  walking  with 
a  young  man,  of  clearly  Transatlantic  origin, 
who  he  felt  sure  must  be  the  American  in  ques- 
tion. The  remark  then  that  he  had  not  made  to 
Maud  was  that  it  might  be  neighborly  to  invite 
him  to  dinner.  But  as  he  made  his  hurried  toilet, 
so  as  not  to  keep  his  sister  waiting,  he  found  him- 
self debating  the  pros  and  cons  of  this  with  a 
perfectly  unwarrantable  earnestness,  as  if  the 
decision,  this  way  or  that,  was  one  that  could  con- 
ceivably be  of  importance.  On  the  one  side  the 
reasons  against  asking  him  were  that  the  hos- 
pitality that  he  could  offer  was  of  the  very  rough- 
est and  most  plain-cook  kind,  and  that  his  tenant 
would  probably  get  a  much  better  dinner  at  the 
inn  where  he  was  staying;  also  he  had  a  feeling 
that  if  he  himself  had  come  up  to  Scotland  to  fish 
he  would  much  rather  not  be  asked  out  to  dinner 
by  his  landlord,  since  such  hospitality,  if  accepted, 
would  mean  a  curtailment  of  the  cream  of  the 
evening  rise.  So,  perhaps,  the  truer  hospitality 
would  be  not  to  burden  his  tenant  with  the  neces- 
sity to  make  excuses.  Then  suddenly  his  name, 
Walter  Cochran,  flashed  into  his  mind.  In  any 
case,  he  concluded,  it  would  be  kinder  not  to  ask 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       21 

Mr.  Walter  Cochran  to  come  three  miles  in  order 
to  eat  Scotch  broth  with  a  tired  landlord. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  felt  a  perfectly  un- 
accountable desire  to  see  him.  He  had  just  met 
and  passed  him  in  the  village  street,  after  coming 
out  from  one  of  those  cottages  where  a  strong 
young  stalker  of  his  was  lying,  it  was  feared,  at 
the  point  of  death.  He  himself,  too,  was  racked 
with  this  hideous  unnerving  pain,  and  at  the  mo- 
ment he  was  feeling  utterly  dispirited  and  beaten 
and  hopeless.  Their  eyes — his  and  Mr.  Cochran 's 
— had  met  for  a  moment,  and  just  for  that  mo- 
ment, by  chance  no  doubt,  or  perhaps  by  that 
subtle  intuition  which  some  people  possess,  Thurso 
had  felt  suddenly  soothed  and  quieted.  There 
was  nothing  particularly  remarkable  about  the 
other.  He  was  rather  tall,  young,  clean-shaven, 
with  a  pleasant  boyish  face,  which  had  something 
of  the  prairie  and  the  open-air  about  it.  Yet  at 
that  moment  Thurso  had  felt  almost  irresistibly 
inclined  to  speak  to  him  and  thank  him,  to  tell 
him  how  his  head  ached  and  how  miserable  and 
dispirited  he  felt,  to  tell  him  also  that  he  had 
made  him  feel  better  for  the  moment.  That  im- 
pulse had  been  quite  ridiculously  strong,  but  in 
another  second  they  had  passed  each  other  going 
their  respective  ways.  Yet  all  afternoon,  subse- 
quent to  that  chance  encounter,  the  remembrance 
of  Mr.  Cochran  strolling  down  to  the  river,  talk- 


22       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

ing  in  a  pleasant,  friendly  manner  to  the  gillie, 
had  never  been  entirely  out  of  his  mind — he  had 
seemed  so  extraordinarily  healthy  and  content, 
and  just  now  poor  Thurso  had  an  immense  envy 
of  such  gifts. 

He  finished  dressing  without  any  severe  return 
of  pain,  but  just  as  he  was  preparing  to  go  down- 
stairs, dismissing  Mr.  Cochran  from  his  mind,  it 
came  on  again  in  sudden  stabs  and  flashes  of  an- 
guish, so  that  for  a  moment  he  held  on  with 
clenched  hands  and  bitten  lips  to  his  table,  feeling 
that  he  must  grip  hold  of  something.  At  the  mo- 
ment his  eye  fell  on  the  bottle  of  laudanum  which 
stood  by  the  looking-glass,  and  though  never  be- 
fore had  he  taken  two  doses  on  the  same  day,  yet 
never  before  had  the  pain  been  so  agonizing  and 
so  persistent,  and  next  moment  he  had  poured  a 
full  dose  into  his  graduated  glass  and  drank  it. 
But  the  beads  of  perspiration  from  the  pain  were 
standing  on  his  forehead,  he  felt  faint  and  sick 
with  it,  and  sat  down  for  a  moment  to  wait  for 
the  blessed  relief  that  would  so  soon  come.  On 
his  very  sensitive  and  excitable  nerves  the  drug 
exercised  an  almost  instantaneous  effect,  not  sopo- 
rific at  all,  but  tranquillizing,  and  at  the  same 
time  stimulating.  The  pain  faded  like  the  melt- 
ing away  of  the  vapor  of  breath  on  a  frosty  morn- 
ing, and  as  it  faded  a  warm,  tingling  glow  began 
to  invade  him.  It  was  as  if  on  some  bitter,  biting 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       23 

Arctic  night  the  sun  of  the  south  poured  its  warm, 
bracing  rays  on  to  his  brain;  happiness  and  con- 
tent were  unfolded  like  a  map,  the  new-born  sense 
of  well-being  stretched  and  sunned  itself  in  this 
luminous  peace. 

He  had  not  to  wait  long.  Before  the  seconds 
had  ticked  themselves  into  a  minute  this  divine 
remission  of  pain  began,  and,  with  it,  the  no-less 
blessed  glow  of  content ;  and  a  couple  of  minutes 
afterwards  it  was  not  so  much  in  the  utter  relief 
of  pain  that  his  body  revelled  as  in  the  ecstatic 
sense  of  supreme  bodily  harmony.  And  then,  as 
always,  this  well-being  of  the  body  spread,  like 
some  warm,  incoming  tide,  to  his  mind,  the  one 
reacting  on  the  other.  The  horror  and  suffering 
of  his  poor  fever-stricken  village  ceased  to  weigh 
upon  him  and  darken  the  soul  with  its  anguish 
and  his  own  helplessness.  Instinctively  his  mind 
ceased  to  dwell  on  the  thought  of  the  bedside  of 
the  stalker  whose  life  was  despaired  of,  but  went 
to  another  bedside  where  a  life  that  had  almost 
been  despaired  of  yesterday  was  coming  back  from 
the  entrance  to  the  valley  of  the  shadow,  and  had 
crawled  out  to-day  from  the  thorn-hedge  of  ill- 
ness, so  to  speak,  on  to  the  high-road  of  recovery. 
This  case  was  that  of  a  woman — the  wife  of  Dun- 
can Frazer,  one  of  his  fishing-gillies.  And  in  this 
spirit  he  looked  hopefully  forward,  while  the 
soothing,  stimulating  drug  made  its  beneficent 


24       THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

way    within    Mm,    to    further    amelioration    to- 
morrow. 

Thurso  had  sat  down  for  a  moment  to  recover 
from  the  faintness  that  had  seized  him  at  that 
sudden  onslaught  of  pain,  but  also  in  order  to 
abandon  himself  more  entirely  to  the  raptures  of 
these  drug-effects.  Then,  after  a  few  minutes, 
he  got  up,  remembering  two  things,  the  first  that 
he  was  keeping  Maud  waiting,  the  second  that  for 
the  first  time  he  was  consciously  revelling  and 
delighting  in  the  bodily  sensation  that  the  opium 
produced.  Up  till  to-day  he  had  taken  it  purely 
medicinally,  in  order  to  relieve  pain  when  the 
pain  was  intolerable  or  paralyzing  to  exertions 
that  he  was  called  upon  to  make,  and  having  taken 
it  like  a  medicine  he  had  done  no  more  than  take 
the  medicinal  advantage  of  its  restoring  qualities. 
But  to-night  he  knew  deep  down  in  himself  that 
he  had  done  something  different,  had  taken  it  in 
a  different  spirit.  True,  the  pain  had  been  very 
acute,  but  as  he  drank  he  knew  that  he  had  wel- 
comed and  waited  for  not  only  the  remission  of 
pain  and  the  return  of  energy,  but  for  that  glow 
of  seeming  exquisite  health  and  harmony  of  sen- 
sation that  it  gave  him.  Yet  though  he  no  longer, 
as  he  got  up,  abandoned  himself  to  this,  he  was 
vividly  conscious  that  he  had  done  so.  And  as  he 
went  downstairs  a  third  thought,  laudanum-born, 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       25 

occurred  to  him.  He  must  not  let  Maud  know 
he  had  taken  it  again;  he  must  not  let  her  see 
how  suddenly  and  completely  the  pain  had  gone, 
for  fear  that  she  might  guess.  Already  he  was 
slightly  ashamed  of  what  amounted  to  cowardice, 
yet  .  .  .  yet  he  felt  so  brilliantly  well  that  it 
was  impossible  to  be  ashamed  of  anything.  But  if 
she  asked?  "Well,  in  that  case  it  would  be  better  to 
"  put  the  question  by."  She  had  no  business  to 
ask;  whether  he  had  taken  laudanum  again  or 
not  was  his  affair.  Perhaps — yes,  that  was  the 
right  plan.  He  would  be  silent  and  quiet  till  din- 
ner was  nearly  over,  and  then  confess  that  dinner 
had  done  him  good.  She  had  told  him  that  it 
would,  and  indeed  the  pain  often  left  him  as  sud- 
denly as  it  came  on,  as  if  a  tap  had  been  turned 
on  or  off. 

All  this  flashed  instantaneously  through  his 
head.  Another  thought  flashed  there  too.  There 
was  Paradise  in  that  little  bottle;  whether  one 
was  in  pain  or  not  there  was  Paradise  there.  He 
felt  he  would  willingly  endure  tortures,  if  at  the 
end  he  could  push  open  those  golden  gates  again. 
Pain  was  nothing  compared  to  these  pleasures. 
Surely  now  and  then  a  half-hour  in  Paradise 
could  not  hurt  him.  He  was  perfectly  willing  to 
pass  through  hours  of  hell  in  between. 

Soup  had  already  arrived  when  he  came  down- 
stairs, and,  according  to  his  plan,  he  said  little  till 


26       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

he  had  eaten  a  couple  of  courses.  Indeed,  his  first 
speech  was  to  demand  more  of  the  "  something 
roast,"  and  Maud  had  given  him  an  approving 
nod.  He  finished  his  second  helping,  and  leaned 
back  in  his  chair. 

"  I  don't  like  telling  you  that  you  are  right," 
he  said,  * '  but  honesty  compels  me  to.  Dinner,  or 
suggestion,  or  both,  have  certainly  done  the  trick. 
They've  turned  off  the  tap.  Quite,  quite  off.  It 
doesn't  even  drip.  I  will  even  allow  it  was  sug- 
gestion, if  you  like,  because  I  am  so  pleased  that 
I  will  allow  anything." 

"  Oh,  Thurso,  I'm  so  glad!  "  she  said.  "  And 
I  so  often  wish  I  could  take  it  for  you. ' ' 

"  You  wouldn't  like  it  when  you  got  it,"  said 
he,  rather  grimly. 

"  No,  but  I  should  like  to  take  it.  I  could  bear 
lots  of  pain  if  I  knew  it  was  otherwise  somebody 
else's.  But  it  must  be  so  difficult  if  it  is  only 
your  own.  And  now  you  may  tell  me  about  to- 
day. Oh,  how  wise  I  was  not  to  let  you  talk  about 
it  before.  I'm  sure  you  were  taking  a  neuralgic 
view.  Apple?  ' 

'  *  Yes,  two,  please.  I  was.  I  was  thinking  only 
of  poor  Sandy,  who  I  am  afraid  is  dying,  and 
not  of  Duncan  Frazer's  wife,  who  appears  to  be 
better.  Headache  made  me  forget  that.  But 
that's  not  what  I  wanted  to  talk  to  you  about. 
It's  this,  Maud." 


He  paused  a  moment. 

"  I  know  you  will  feel  with  me  about  it,"  he 
said,  "  though  I  daresay  Lily  will  make  a  fuss 
when  she  knows.  I  think  I  must  turn  this  house 
into  a  hospital  for  them.  You  see,  if  one  case 
appears  in  one  of  the  cottages,  think  what  hap- 
pens !  There  are  three,  or  at  the  most  four,  rooms 
in  them,  and  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  the  family 
has  to  live  in  two,  or  at  the  most  three,  rooms. 
The  sick-room,  too ;  twelve  feet  by  ten !  Dr.  Symes 
agrees  with  me.  Look  at  the  big  dining-room 
here.  It  will  hold  a  dozen  beds,  and  lots  of  air 
for  them  all.  Also,  up  here  one  nurse  can  easily 
look  after  twice  the  number  of  patients  she  can 
manage  if  she  has  to  trot  about  from  house  to 
house.  So  I  have  given  orders.  Any  case  Dr. 
Symes  thinks  he  can  safely  move  will  be  moved 
up  here,  and  so  will  all  fresh  cases.  Of  course, 
you  will  have  to  go  back  to  town." 

Maud  laughed. 

' '  And  you  ? ' '  she  asked.  • 

"  I  shall  stop  here.  I  can't  leave  while  things 
are  like  this." 

11  Oh,  Thurso,"  she  said,  "  you  mar  the  excel- 
lent effect  of  your  speeches  by  talking  dreadful 
nonsense  at  the  end.  It's  an  admirable  idea  mov- 
ing them  up  here,  so  admirable  that  I  am  sur- 
prised I  didn't  think  of  it  first.  But  as  for  my 
going  back  to  town.  You  silly  old  thing!  " 


28       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 
"  But,  Maud " 


'  There  isn't  any  '  but,  Maud.' 

"  But  I  can't  and  won't  have  you  in  the  house 
with  forty  or  fifty  cases  of  typhoid  here,"  said  he. 

"  Then  turn  me  out  into  the  cold,  bleak  night. 
I  came  up  here  to  keep  you  company,  and  shall 
continue  to  do  so.  So  shut  up!  To  begin  with, 
there  is  no  risk  of  infection,  and,  to  go  on  with, 
I  shouldn't  catch  it  if  there  was." 

"  Why  not?  " 

Maud  grew  momentarily  grave. 

11  Why,  because  I  always  mean  to  get  through 
the  day's  work,  and  I  couldn't  if  I  propose  to  go 
to  bed  with  typhoid.  Oh,  yes,  when  one  has  clearly 
got  one's  work  to  do,  one  is  allowed  to  go  and 
do  it.  Now,  I'll  play  you  at  picquet." 


CHAPTER   II 

MAUD  had  happened  to  come  across,  in  a  book 
she  was  reading  on  her  way  up  to  Scotland,  an 
account  of  a  typhoid  epidemic  in  which  the  chari- 
table lady  of  the  piece  sat  by  the  bedsides  of  the 
patients  and  fed  them  with ' '  cooling  fruits. ' '  She 
did  not  at  the  time  know  anything  whatever  about 
the  treatment  or  nursing  of  typhoid,  but  on  arrival 
it  had  occurred  to  her  to  ask  their  doctor  if  she 
could  make  herself  of  any  use  in  these  lines,  and 
the  excellent  Dr.  Symes  had  laughed  immoder- 
ately. 

"  You  will  soon  stop  the  epidemic  if  you  do," 
he  said,  "  because  everybody  you  feed  with  cool- 
ing fruit  will  certainly  die.  No,  you  can't  help 
us  down  in  the  village,  but  you  have  your  work 
up  at  the  house,  keeping  Lord  Thurso  from  mop- 
ing in  the  evening  and  making  himself  miserable. 
I  am  very  glad  you  came  with  him.  But  all  day 
you  can  amuse  yourself.  If  I  were  you  I  should 
be  out  of  doors  all  I  could.  It  tends  to  tran- 
quillity. ' ' 

This  advice  came  into  her  head  the  next  morn- 
ing after  Thurso  had  gone  down  to  the  village, 
and  it  was  counsel  which  she  could  easily  put  into 


30       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

practice,  since,  according  to  her  view  of  the  uni- 
verse, the  world  (especially  the  world  out-of- 
doors)  was  full  of  delightful  occupations  and  pur- 
suits, than  which  there  was  none  more  entrancing 
than  catching  sea-trout  with  a  light  rod  and  light 
tackle.  And  since  the  river  Eogan,  which  ran  its 
short  and  delectable  course  not  half  a  mile  from 
the  lodge,  was  one  of  the  finest  sea-trout  streams 
in  the  country,  it  was  not  difficult  to  follow  the 
doctor's  advice  and  amuse  herself.  She  knew 
nothing,  of  course,  of  the  fact  that  Thurso  had 
let  the  fishing  to  the  American  whom  he  had  met 
yesterday  in  the  street,  and  he  had  decided  not  to 
ask  to  dinner. 

Thurso  did  not  intend  to  come  back  home  for 
lunch  to-day,  and  as  the  house  would  be  full  of 
workmen  busy  shifting  furniture  and  making  the 
rooms  ready,  under  the  superintendence  of  one 
of  the  doctors,  for  the  typhoid  patients,  Maud 
went  off  to  the  river  without  saying  a  word  to 
anybody,  with  a  light  and  exultant  heart.  Sandy, 
poor  fellow,  her  special  fishing  gillie,  was  down 
with  typhoid  and  desperately  ill,  and  in  this  hay- 
making month  all  those  who  in  the  autumn  were 
stalkers  or  gillies  were  busy  with  their  crofts,  so 
she  went  alone  with  sandwich,  rod  and  landing- 
net  to  spend  an  enchanted  day. 

Maud  had  in  an  extraordinary  degree  that  joie- 
de-vivre  which  gilded  any  employment  on  which 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE       31 

3he  was  engaged,  and  indeed  to  go  fishing  for  sea- 
trout  needed  no  gilding — it  was  golden  to  her  mind 
already.  For  hours  one  might  cast  one's  fly  upon 
the  waters,  and  though  catching  nothing  never 
lose  the  confident  anticipation  that  one  was  just 
going  to ;  at  any  moment  the  swirl  of  submerged 
strength  and  activity  would  bend  one 's  rod  to  that 
glorious  course  that  the  fisherman  knows  to  be 
the  true  and  correct  attack.  Like  everything  else 
that  anybody  finds  to  be  worth  doing  (except 
keeping  accounts),  mystery  and  romance  envel- 
oped and  illuminated  the  pursuit  for  her,  and  as 
she  walked  down  to  the  river  Thurso's  headache, 
the  typhoid,  all  she  was  missing  by  not  being  in 
London,  were  sponged  off  from  her  mind.  True, 
dreadful  things  might  be  in  store  for  her  by  the 
stream ;  to  fish  with  a  big  sea-trout  fly  might  easily 
attract  the  attention  of  the  sea-trout's  bigger 
cousin,  and  then  probably  good-by  to  the  light 
tackle.  But  as  it  was  certainly  no  fun  to  catch 
sea-trout  on  a  salmon  rod,  Maud  took  this  chance 
with  a  light  heart. 

The  day  was  one  of  those  gray  days  (so  rare 
in  the  North,  where  "  gray  day  "  means  usually 
East  wind,  which  sucks  the  color  from  land  and 
sky),  with  a  breeze  from  the  southwest  which 
makes  heather  and  gorse  and  water  all  more  bril- 
liant and  fragrant  than  even  the  sunlight  can,  and 


32       THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

preoccupied  though  Maud  was  with  the  prospects 
of  the  river,  her  mind  kept  paying  little  flying 
visits  to  the  beauty  of  the  morning.  Five  minutes 
after  she  left  the  lodge  she  was  absolutely  alone, 
and  the  sight  of  neither  human  being  nor  human 
habitation  broke  the  intense  solitude  of  eye  and 
ear,  which,  to  such  as  she,  is  so  warm  and  dear  a 
companionship.  For  she  loved  the  pleasant  things 
of  the  earth,  the  heather  and  the  gorse,  and  the 
close,  silent  friendship  of  nature,  unvexed  and 
undistracted  by  human  presences.  To  her,  as  to 
St.  Francis,  the  trees  were  her  dear  brothers,  the 
sky  and  the  river  her  dear  sisters,  and  somehow 
also  the  fish  she  hoped  to  slay  were  her  friends 
and  blood  relations.  She  could  not  have  explained 
that  feeling ;  she  would  frankly  have  told  you  that 
it  implied  an  inconsistency;  but  the  fact  that  she 
hoped  to  kill  them  produced  no  discordant  note. 

And  here  was  the  rushing,  jubilant  river,  which 
a  wet  May  had  filled  from  bank  to  bank.  She 
struck  it  at  the  Bridge  pool,  over  the  rapids  of 
which  hung  a  swaying,  airy  suspension  bridge, 
from  which  it  took  its  name.  Deep  water  lay  on 
the  near  side,  shoal  water  on  the  other,  but  just 
beyond  the  shoal-water,  could  she  but  cast  over 
it,  ran  a  little  channel  she  knew  well,  where  sea- 
trout  lay.  So  she  crossed  the  swaying  bridge, 
debating  within  her  the  question  of  fly.  The  river 
was  high  and  the  sea-trout  would  take  big  flies; 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE       33 

but  so,  unfortunately,  would  the  salmon.  How- 
ever, she  must  chance  that  and  a  possible  break- 
age— the  big  fly  was  certainly  the  right  game  to 
play. 

Five  minutes  was  enough  for  the  fixing  of  her 
apparatus,  and  with  the  fisherman's  heart,  which 
beats  excitedly  in  the  throat,  she  began  casting 
from  just  underneath  the  bridge.  But  with  her 
longest  line  she  could  not  reach  that  channel  of 
deep  water ;  and  if  she  did  not  reach  that  she  might 
as  well  be  fishing  in  a  wash-tub.  But — there  was 
nobody  within  miles — and  next  minute  she  had 
kilted  her  skirts  till  she  could  wade  out  over  that 
stupid  shoal  water  and  stand  where,  with  the  cool, 
bright  water  flowing  near  up  to  her  knees,  yet 
leaving  her  skirt  unwetted,  she  could  reach  the 
deeper  water  beyond.  For  well  she  knew  what  a 
wet  skirt  meant  to  one  who  proposed  to  be  fishing 
and  walking  all  day — nobody  could  strive  against 
that  heavy,  clinging  thing — and  as  she  waded  out 
she  hitched  it  an  inch  or  two  higher.  Then  for  a 
moment  she  had  to  pause  to  laugh  at  the  figure  she 
must  be  inevitably  presenting  if  there  was  any  one 
present.  There  was  a  knitted  jersey  for  her  upper 
half,  a  cap  of  tweed,  a  much  kilted  skirt,  and  joy 
in  her  heart.  Also,  she  could  easily  cast  into  the 
coveted  channel. 

There  was  a  fin  and  a  sort  of  gulp  near  her  fly, 
and  with  another  gulp  her  heart  came  upward 


34      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

from  her  throat  into  her  very  mouth.  But  the 
owner  of  the  fin  had  missed  the  fly,  and  the  owner 
thereof  was  not  a  sea-trout  but  a  salmon.  Then 
in  her  the  inbred  sporting  instinct  usurped  all 
other  consciousness.  Light  though  her  rod  was 
and  light  her  tackle,  since  there  was  a  salmon  in 
the  stream  that  felt  an  interest  in  her  Jock  Scott 
she  must  try  to  catch  him.  He  might  break  her — 
well,  let  him.  She  had  no  gaff;  very  well,  she 
must  do  without. 

She  waded  ashore,  being  far  too  wise  in  fishing 
lore  to  cast  over  him  again  at  once,  preferring  to 
wait  a  minute  or  two  before  she  once  more  tempted 
him;  and  as  she  gained  dry  land  she  saw  that 
there  was  a  man  half  way  across  the  bridge  just 
above  the  pool.  He  had  a  fishing  rod  (light  also 
like  hers)  in  one  hand  and  a  landing-net  tucked 
under  his  arm.  In  any  case,  his  rod  could  not 
possibly  refer  to  Thurso  's  river,  and  he  was  prob- 
ably from  Scarsdale,  where  she  knew  some  new 
people  had  taken  the  lodge.  But  she  gave  him 
only  the  vaguest  passing  thought,  being  far  more 
interested  that  moment  in  one  particular  fish  than 
in  any  one  particular  man,  and  took  no  further 
notice  of  him,  except  that  she  unkilted  her  skirt 
a  little.  It  showed  really  too  much  of  what  was 
vulgarly  but  correctly  called  ' '  leg. ' '  Then,  with- 
out giving  any  further  glance  at  the  figure  on  the 
bridge,  who  had  paused,  watching  her,  she  walked 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      35 

some  ten  yards  up  from  where  she  had  raised  her 
fish,  in  order  to  be  certain  of  casting  over  him 
again.  The  unkilted  skirt  dragged  a  little  in  the 
water,  but  she  would  have  waded  neck-deep  after 
that  fish.  Also — this  popped  in  and  out  of  her 
mind — there  was  a  man  watching,  and  she  had 
no  objection  to  a  gallery  when  she  was  fishing. 
Oh,  she  could  fish! 

Yard  by  yard  she  moved  down  to  where  the 
dear  monster  had  risen  before.  That  was  the 
spot !  Indeed  it  was.  This  time  there  was  no  fin 
to  break  the  surface,  but  there  was  the  true  attack, 
the  suddenly  curved  rod,  the  sudden  message  up 
the  line.  At  the  same  moment,  out  of  the  corner 
of  her  eye,  she  saw  that  the  man  had  moved  from 
his  place  on  the  bridge  and  was  coming  up  be- 
hind her  on  the  bank. 

But  that  occupied  her  very  little.  All  she  really 
knew  was  that  she  was  at  present  the  possessor 
of  a  light  trout  rod,  fitted  with  light  tackle,  at  the 
end  of  which  for  the  moment  was  a  salmon.  Her 
landing  net  was  somewhere  on  the  bank,  but  it 
might  as  well  have  been  in  Jericho  for  all  the  use 
it  could  be  in  this  emergency.  Anyhow,  two  or 
three  ecstatic  minutes  were  hers.  The  fish  bolted 
down  stream,  and  her  reel  sang  shrilly.  Then, 
like  an  express  train,  he  came  back  again,  and  with 
the  calmness  of  despair  she  reeled  in,  thinking 
that  he  meant  to  go  up  under  the  bridge,  which 


36      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

was  death,  and  destruction  to  her  and  her  rod. 
But  he  changed  his  mind,  and  once  more,  after 
two  or  three  rushes,  he  was  opposite  her,  shaking 
his  head,  so  it  seemed,  for  the  rod  jerked  and 
jumped,  yet  no  line  ran  out. 

Maud  had  moved  slowly  back  across  the  shoal- 
water  during  this,  so  as  to  gain  the  shore  again, 
for  she  knew  she  must  get  somewhere  where  she 
could  run,  when  from  close  behind  her  came  a 
very  pleasant  voice. 

11  He's  well-hooked,"  it  said;  "  I  saw  him  take 
it.  He'll  be  off  down  stream  in  a  minute,  and 
there's  a  hundred  yards  of  rapid  before  the  next 
pool.  I  should  be  ready  to  run  if  I  were  you." 

Maud  still  thought  of  nothing  but  her  fish,  which 
had  already  begun  to  bore  slowly  away  into  the 
deep  water  on  the  far  side  of  the  river,  and  she 
knew  well  what  that  would  lead  to.  And  she  re- 
plied to  the  voice  as  if  it  had  been  only  her  own 
thoughts — which  were  identical — with  which  she 
was  communing: 

"  Why,  of  course  he's  going  down  to  the  next 
pool,"  she  said.  "  He's  making  for  the  deep 
water  now.  There!  " 

She  splashed  her  way  through  the  margin  of 
the  foot-deep  water,  and  nearly  fell  over  a  stone 
just  as  the  fish  felt  the  full  current  of  the  river, 
and  was  off  like  an  arrow  down  stream.  Her 
reel  screamed  out,  and  there  was  a  dreadful  length 


Then,   still   without   looking  away   from   the  water   she  spoke  to 
him  again.     Chapter  II. 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       37 

of  line  between  her  and  the  fly.  But  she  was  off 
like  Atalanta  after  him ;  and  before  matters  were 
wholly  desperate,  a  bend  in  the  rapids  brought 
her  nearer  to  him,  and,  still  running,  she  reeled 
in.  Then — oh,  blessed  haven! — he  reached  the 
deep  water  of  the  pool  below,  and  swimming  in 
small  circles  near  the  head  of  it  allowed  her  to 
recapture  more  of  her  line.  Then,  still  without 
looking  away  from  the  water  (for  she  felt  sure 
that  the  owner  of  the  voice  had  come  down  with 
her),  she  spoke  to  him  again. 

11  The  humor  of  the  situation  is  that  I  have 
only  the  very  lightest  tackle,"  she  said.  "  But, 
luckily,  the  fish  doesn't  know  that.  And  would 
you  be  so  good  as  to  get  my  landing-net!  I  left 
it  on  the  bank  just  below  the  bridge." 

I  i  I  saw  it,  and  brought  it, ' '  said  the  voice.    '  *  I 
should  say  a  butterfly  net  would  be  about  as  use- 
ful.   He's  a  twenty-pounder!  ' 

Maud  suddenly  laughed. 

II  I  wonder  what  is  going  to  happen  next?  ' 
she   cried.     "  Isn't   it   fun   not   knowing?     Oh, 
look!  " 

For  the  first  time  the  fish  jumped  so  as  to 
show  himself  properly,  and  splashed  soundingly 
back  into  the  pool  again. 

"  Twenty  pounds  and  a  few  extra,"  remarked 
the  voice.  "  I  told  my  gillie  to  be  down  here  by 
eleven,  and  he'll  bring  a  gaff.  He  ought  to  be 


38       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

in  plenty  of  time.  There'll  be  no  gaffing  going 
on  yet." 

That  turned  out  to  be  perfectly  true,  and  a 
dozen  times  in  the  next  quarter  of  an  hour  Maud 
knew  that  she  was  within  an  ace  of  losing  him. 
He  behaved  like  the  strong  fresh-run  fish  that 
he  was,  making  disconcerting  rushes  down  to  the 
very  tail  of  the  pool,  and  running  out  her  line 
almost  to  its  last  yard,  before  she  had  time  to 
follow  along  the  stony  bank.  Then  he  would  seek 
the  very  deepest  holes,  and  lie  there,  shaking  his 
head,  and  putting  the  most  dangerous  snapping 
strain  on  her  fine  gut.  Then,  with  a  rush,  he 
would  come  straight  back  towards  her,  so  that, 
do  what  she  would,  there  were  long  perilous  mo- 
ments, though  she  reeled  up  with  lightning  hand, 
when  he  was  on  a  slack  line.  But  at  length  he 
began  to  tire,  and  instead  of  hurling  himself  about 
the  pool  allowed  himself  just  to  drift  with  the 
stream.  That,  too,  was  dangerous,  for  she  had 
to  tow  him  in  towards  her  with  the  utmost  gen- 
tleness, since  both  his  dead  weight  and  the  press 
of  the  water  were  against  her.  Then  again  his 
savage  pride  awoke,  and  he  would  struggle  against 
this  mysterious  compelling  force,  but  he  was  weak- 
ening. 

Maud  felt  this. 

"  Oh,  isn't  your  gillie  here  yet?  "  she  asked 
•suddenly. 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      3£ 

"  Yes,  he  came  several  minutes  ago.  Shall  I 
gaff  him  for  you,  or  shall  he?  ' 

"  Who  is  he?  "  asked  Maud. 

"  It's  Duncan,  my  lady,"  said  another  voice. 

"  Oh,  then,  Duncan,  please,"  said  she.  "  Is 
that  rude  of  me?  But,  you  see,  I  know  Duncan. 
Get  further  down,  Duncan;  get  below  him,  so 
that  he  can 't  see  you !  ' 

But  there  were  several  agitating  moments  yet. 
Each  time  the  fish  drifted  with  the  stream  she 
towed  him  a  little  nearer  to  the  bank,  but  though 
he  was  very  weak  now,  and  his  struggles  shortf 
he  was  still  capable  of  unexpected  momentary 
violences.  But  at  last  he  was  a  mere  log,  floating 
with  fin  out  of  the  water,  and  broad  silvery  side 
shining.  With  a  quick,  crafty  movement  Duncan 
had  him  on  the  bank. 

'  *  Kill  him  quickly,  Duncan !  ' '  she  said.  ' '  Oh, 
what  a  darling!  Quite  fresh  from  the  sea." 

Then,  for  the  first  time,  Maud  turned  to  look 
at  the  stranger,  and  found  a  tall,  pleasant,  clean- 
shaven young  man  smiling  at  her. 

"  I  really  am  extremely  obliged  to  you,"  she 
said.  "  I  could  not  possibly  have  landed  him 
without  your  gaff. ' ' 

He  laughed  at  this,  showing  very  white,  aven 
teeth. 

"  Why,  I  think  that  is  so,"  he  said.    "  But  I 


40      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

am  your  debtor  much  more.  I  never  saw  a  fish 
handled  so  well.  Look  at  your  tackle,  too!  " 

"  Oh,  I  know  the  water,"  said  she,  "  and  that 
makes  so  much  difference." 

Then  suddenly  the  conjunction  of  a  total 
stranger  with  a  rod  on  her  brother's  river  and 
in  company  with  one  of  her  brother's  keepers 
struck  her  as  odd. 

"  I  am  afraid  I  have  detained  you  very  long," 
she  said,  "  if  you  are  going  to  fish  at  Scarsdale." 

"  No,  I  am  fishing  here/'  he  said.  "  At  least 
I  shall  go  a  mile  or  so  down,  and  begin  there." 

This  was  more  solidly  incomprehensible.  Yet 
the  man  did  not  look  like  a  poacher,  a  trespasser ; 
and  how  did  it  come  about  that  Duncan  was  with 
him?  Maud  got  just  a  shade  dignified. 

"  I'm  sure  you  will  excuse  me,"  she  said, 
"  but  you  know  this  is  my  brother,  Lord 
Thurso's,  river?  " 

Again  the  stranger  laughed,  with  very  sincere 
but  quiet  merriment. 

"  Yes,  I  know,"  he  said;  "  but  he  has  been 
kind  enough  to  let  the  fishing  to  me." 

Maud  stood  quite  silent  a  moment.  The  horror 
of  the  situation  that  was  dawning  on  her  absolutely 
tied  her  tongue.  Her  brother  had  let  the  fishing, 
and  here  was  she  caught,  a  red-handed  poacher, 
by  the  tenant  himself! 

"  What?  "  she  said. 


The  stranger  took  off  his  hat. 

' '  Pray  allow  me  to  introduce  myself, ' '  he  said. 
"  I  am  Walter  Cochran.  Excuse  me,  I  really 
can 't  help  laughing.  It  is  funny,  you  know !  ' ' 

Maud,  already  flushed  with  excitement  and 
exercise,  grew  perfectly  crimson. 

"  Oh,  what  am  I  to  do?  "  she  cried.  "It  is 
too  awful!  I  can  never  forgive  myself." 

She  raised  her  eyes  to  his  again,  and  saw  there 
such  genuine  kindly  amusement  that,  in  spite  of 
her  horror,  she  laughed  herself. 

"  Oh,  don't  make  me  laugh,"  she  said.  "  It  is 
too  dreadful.  Poaching!  I  thought  you  were 
poaching,  and  it  is  I. " 

"  Yes,  it's  serious,"  he  said,  "  and  it's  for  me 
to  make  conditions." 

Maud  had  one  moment's  fleeting  terror  that  he 
was  going  to  make  an  ass  of  himself,  as  she 
phrased  it — and  to  kiss  her  hand,  or  something 
dreadful.  But  he  did  not  look  that  sort. 

"  Oh,  my  conditions  are  not  difficult,"  he  said. 
"  I  only  insist  on  your  not  cutting  short  your 
day's  fishing." 

"  Oh,  don't,"  she  said.  "  I  don't  think  I  could 
fish  any  more. ' ' 

"  I  think  you  must  make  an  effort.  Really,  I 
insist  on  it.  We  shan't  get  in  each  other's  way. 
I  am  going  a  couple  of  miles  down." 

The  situation,  which  five  minutes  ago  was  so 


42       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

excruciating,  had  absolutely  melted  and  vanished. 
Had  Maud  been  told  that  morning  what  was  to 
happen  to  her  before  lunch  she  would  have  felt 
ready  to  sink  into  the  earth  with  shame,  while, 
even  two  minutes  ago,  there  was  nothing  so  im- 
possible as  to  imagine  herself  continuing  to  fish. 
But  the  man  was  so  unaffectedly  friendly;  his 
amusement  also  at  her  horror  was  so  kindly  that 
she  was  no  longer  horrified. 

"  Really,  Mr.  Cochran,  you  are  too  kind,"  she 
said.  "  But  you  must  first  put  me  at  my  ease 
about  one  thing.  You  do  know,  don't  you,  how 
sorry  I  am,  and  that  I  hadn't  the  slightest  notion 
that  Thurso  had  let  the  fishing.  Oh,  by  the  way, 
I  am  Maud  Stratton. ' ' 

"  Why,  of  course  I  knew  all  that  without  your 
telling  me,"  he  said.  "  So  it's  all  settled." 

She  smiled  at  him. 

"  Thank  you  very  much,"  she  said.  "  I  shall 
love  to  have  this  day  on  the  river. ' ' 

"  And  Duncan?  "  he  said.  "  Pray  keep  him 
if  you  want  him.  Otherwise  I  shall  send  him 
home.  His  wife  is  ill  of  this — this  typhoid." 

"  Oh,  no,  please  send  him  home,"  said  Maud. 

Then  Cochran  turned  to  the  gillie. 

1 '  Get  along  home,  Duncan, ' '  he  said,  ' '  and  you 
will  find  the  wife  ever  so  much  better.  She's  been 
getting  better  all  morning.  But  if  you  give  her 
any  of  that  medicine  you  will  be  just  helping  her 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      43 

to  get  worse  again.  You  understand?  If  you 
find  she's  worse,  you  can  give  it  her.  But  she 
isn't;  she's  better.  Yes,  gaff,  landing-net,  lunch. 
I've  got  them  all.  Keep  up  a  good  heart,  man. 
God's  looking  after  her  this  morning.  She's 
going  to  get  quite  well.  Don't  lose  sight  of  that; 
don't  let  her  lose  sight  of  it  either." 

He  had  apparently  quite  forgotten  about  Maud 
as  he  spoke,  and  had  turned  side  face  to  her  as 
he  talked  to  the  gillie.  And,  as  he  spoke,  though 
all  the  kindliness  and  merriment  that  had  been 
in  his  face  when  he  talked  to  Maud  were  there 
still,  yet  there  shone  through  all  some  intense 
vital  seriousness.  He  had  laid  his  hand  on  Dun- 
can's shoulder,  and  made  his  little  speech  with 
an  extraordinary  air  of  authority.  Then  he 
nodded  to  him  in  dismissal,  and  turned  to  Maud 
again,  while  Duncan  trudged  off  down  the  river 
bank. 

"  I'm  so  sorry  for  you  and  Lord  Thurso,"  he 
said,  ' '  and  I  think  it 's  downright  good  of  you  to 
have  come  up,  right  in  the  middle  of  the  season, 
just  because  your  folk  here  were  ill.  It's  real 
kind  of  you." 

Then  his  eye  fell  on  the  fish. 

"  Hi,  Duncan,"  he  called  out  after  the  retreat- 
ing figure,  "  take  her  ladyship's  fish  up  to  the 
lodge.  Where  are  your  manners'?  ' 

Duncan  came  back,  stuffed  the  fish  into  his  creel 


44      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

and  shouldered  it.  But  he  paused  a  moment  be- 
fore he  went  again. 

'  *  But  the  wife  is  better,  sir  ?  "  he  asked. 

u  Ever  so  much  better.  You  know  that  as  well 
as  I  do,  so  don't  forget  it,  since  you  help  to  make 
her  better  by  knowing  it  all  the  time.  Now,  off 
with  you.  You've  got  to  look  after  the  baby,  as 
she  thinks  she  can't.  Make  it  happy;  give  it  a 
real  good  time,  and  let  it  pull  your  beard." 

He  watched  Duncan  tramp  away  again  with  his 
heavy  Scotch  tread  down  the  river  bank. 

"  Dear  blind  man!  "  he  said,  half  to  himself. 
"  But  the  light  is  coming  to  him." 

Maud  was  already  ' '  arrested  ' '  by  Mr.  Cochran 
— she  paid,  that  is  to  say,  a  good  deal  more  at- 
tention to  him  than  she  paid  to  nine-tenths  of 
casual  strangers  with  whom  she  was,  as  now, 
brought  rather  intimately  in  contact.  He  had  the 
arresting  quality,  whatever  that  is,  which  com- 
pels attention.  It  may  be  called  magnetism,  but 
it  has  not  got  the  slightest  connection  with  love 
or  hate,  like  or  dislike — it  may,  in  fact,  and  often 
does,  co-exist  with  each  and  all  of  those.  At  pres- 
ent, it  had  not  occurred  to  Maud  in  the  remotest 
degree  whether  she  liked  or  disliked  Mr.  Cochran ; 
she  only  knew  that  he  arrested  her.  He  was  very 
quiet  in  manners,  quite  well-bred,  rather  good 
looking,  and  in  all  these  things  he  was  in  no  way 
distinguished  from  the  ordinary  world  in  which 


THE    HOUSE    OF    DEFENCE       45 

she  lived.  But  there  was,  and  she  knew  it,  some- 
thing that  marked  him  off  from  all  men  she  had 
ever  seen,  and  pausing  to  think  for  one  half -second, 
she  saw  what  it  was.  He  was  so  happy.  Happi- 
ness of  a  sort  that  was  new  to  her  surrounded 
him  like  an  atmosphere  which  somehow  it  was 
given  to  others — herself,  for  instance,  at  this  mo- 
ment— to  breathe,  and  it  radiated  from  him,  and 
shone  on  others.  Hundreds  of  people  were  happy, 
thank  God — that  is  a  very  common  complaint — 
but  never  had  she  seen  anyone  so  consciously, 
vitally  happy.  It  was  as  if  he  had  just  heard 
some  extraordinary  good  news,  or  as  if  he  had 
once  heard  news  so  good  that  it  was  ever  new 
to  him.  Yet  it  was  no  retrospective  happiness ;  it 
gushed  from  him  as  from  some  eternal  spring. 

This  impression  was  made,  as  all  strong  im- 
pressions are  made,  in  an  infinitesimal  moment, 
and  there  was  no  pause  between  his  parting  speech 
to  Duncan  and  her  taking  up  the  casual  thread 
of  talk.  All  the  same,  was  the  thread  casual1? 
For  his  speech  to  Duncan,  which  Maud  took  up, 
seemed  to  come  from  his  very  heart  and  soul. 

"  I  don't  understand,"  she  said.  "  Why  did 
you  say  that  poor  Duncan's  wife  only  thought 
she  was  ill!  " 

The  brown,  happy,  amused  eyes  looked  at  her 
a  moment  before  he  replied. 

"  Why,  doesn't  that  come  somewhere  in  Shake- 


46       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

speare, ' '  he  asked,  * ' '  There 's  nothing  either  right 
or  wrong  but  thinking  makes  it  so ;  '  or  words  to 
that  effect?  " 

11  Yes,  poor  soul,  but  if  we  take  that  literally 
we  must  conclude  that  if  she  thought  she  was  well 
she  would  be.  It  is  hard  to  think  that  when  you 
happen  to  have  typhoid." 

The  brown  eyes  got  graver,  but  not  less  happy. 

"  Certainly,  it  is  hard,"  he  said,  "  indeed  im- 
possible, unless  you  can  think  right.  But  when 
one  can  do  that  all  the  rest  follows." 

Maud  suddenly  felt  slightly  antagonistic  to  him. 
She  remembered  the  few  words  she  had  had  with 
Thurso  last  night  about  people  who  are  always 
well  because  they  think  so,  and  his  conclusion  that 
they  must  be  fools.  She  had  tacitly  agreed  with 
him  then,  and  was  slightly  vexed  with  Mr.  Coch- 
ran  now  because  honestly  he  did  not  seem  to  be 
one. 

"  Have  you  ever  had  toothache!  "  she  asked. 

"  Fortunately  not.    But  if  I  had,  I  shouldn't." 

Then  the  name  she  had  been  unable  to  remem- 
ber the  night  before  came  back  to  her. 

"  Ah,  then  you  are  a  Christian  Scientist,"  she 
said.  ' '  You  think  all  pain  and  illness  is  unreal. ' ' 

He  laughed  again. 

"  I  know  it,"  he  said.  "  Now,  I  am  sure  you 
want  to  get  on  with  your  fishing.  So  there's 
your  rod,  and  please  keep  the  gaff.  You  are  much 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      47 

more  likely  to  hook  another  salmon  in  the  upper 
pools  than  I  am  down  below. ' ' 

He  had  changed  the  subject  with  such  bare- 
faced suddenness  that  she  could  not  help  remark- 
ing on  it.  Yet,  abrupt  as  it  had  been,  it  had  not 
been  ill-bred. 

"  Do  you  often  change  the  subject  as  quickly 
as  that?  "  she  asked. 

•'  Always,  if — you  won't  mind  my  saying  it — 
strangers  talk  to  me  about  Christian  Science.  I 
don't  proselytize,  you  see;  I  don't  think  that  is 
the  best  way  to  make  truth  known.  Also,  Lady 
Maud,  one  can't  talk  about  the  subject  which 
means  more  to  one  than  the  whole  world  with 
people  who  really  only  ask  questions  about  it  out 
of  a  sort  of,  well,  derisive  curiosity." 

The  words  were  extremely  direct;  in  ninety- 
nine  mouths  out  of  a  hundred  they  would  have 
been  rude.  Yet,  though  Maud  felt  still  antago- 
nistic, she  knew  that  the  most  sensitive  person  in 
the  world  could  not  have  suspected  a  trace  of 
rudeness  or  offence  in  them,  so  entirely  sweetly 
and  good-naturedly  were  they  spoken.  He  made 
this  particularly  plain  statement  without  the 
slightest  hint  of  resentment  or  fear  of  arousing 
it.  And  Maud,  generous  and  open  as  himself, 
gave  in  at  once. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  she  said.  "You  are 
quite  right.  There  was  a  touch — really  not  more 


48       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

— of  what  you  so  justly  call  derisive  curiosity  in 
my  mind.  It  was  quite  wrong  of  me.  But  may  I 
ask  you  a  question  with  that  touch  left  out,  hon- 
estly left  out?  " 

"  Why,  of  course,  a  hundred,"  said  he. 

"  Then,  why  don't  you  proselytize?  "  she  asked. 
"  If  you  are  convinced  of  the  truth  of  it  all,  isn't 
it  your  duty  to  spread  it  ?  " 

Walter  Cochran  let  his  eyes  wander  from  her 
face  over  the  hillside,  fragrant  with  heather  and 
humming  with  bees.  Then  they  looked  at  her 
again,  and  for  the  first  time  she  saw  that  they 
were  different  to  any  eyes  she  had  ever  seen  in 
the  face  of  woman  or  man,  for  they  were  the  eyes 
of  a  child,  with  a  child's  terrible  honesty  and 
disarming  frankness. 

"  You  can  spread  a  thing  in  many  ways,"  he 
said.  "  But  preaching  was  not  the  primary  way 
He  chose.  He  went  about  doing  good." 

Maud  felt  suddenly  that  shyness  which  is  in- 
stinctive in  most  Anglo-Saxons  when  "  religion  ' 
comes  on  the  conversational  board.  With  many 
people,  no  doubt,  reticence  on  religion  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  since  they  have  none,  there  is  noth- 
ing to  talk  about.  But  it  was  not  so  with  her; 
religion  formed  a  very  vital  and  essential  part 
of  her  life,  but  it  was  not  one  to  be  publicly  trotted 
out.  So,  since  the  subject  had  so  unexpectedly 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      49 

and  profoundly  deepened  with  this  last  remark, 
it  was  she  who  changed  it  now. 

"  I  see,"  she  said,  and  then  paused.  "  But, 
please,  don't  leave  me  the  gaff.  I  should  im- 
mensely like,  since  you  are  so  kind,  to  get  another 
sea-trout  or  two ;  but  having  poached  one  salmon 
without  your  leave,  I  really  couldn't  poach  an- 
other. If  I  hook  another,  he  shall  break  me,  and 
so  I  shall  present  your  river  with  a  fly  and  some 
gut  by  way  of  amende." 

Then  the  idea  of  offering  hospitality,  which  had 
occurred  to  and  been  rejected  by  Thurso,  occurred 
to  her.  "  And  do  come  and  dine  with  us  to- 
morrow," she  said,  "  and  eat  some  of  your  own 
fish.  Thurso  and  I  would  be  delighted.  We  are 
just  squatters  in  the  lodge,  you  know — eat  and 
live  in  one  room,  and  have  a  dreadful  cook.  Oh, 
I  forgot ;  we  are  turning  the  house  into  a  typhoid 
hospital,  and  by  the  evening  the  place  will  be  full 
of  patients.  Please  say  '  no  '  point  blank,  if  you 
don 't  like  the  thought.  I  shall  quite  understand. ' ' 

Walter  Cochran  gave  her  a  swift,  admiring 
glance. 

"  Why,  that's  just  splendid  of  you,"  he  said; 
'  *  and  as  for  coming  to  dinner,  I  shall  be  charmed. 
We  Scientists  are  often  told  we  are  inconsistent, 
but  I  guess  we're  not  quite  so  inconsistent  as  to 
mind  coming  to  a  house  because  a  few  poor  souts 


50       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

think  they  are  ill.    So  au  revoir,  Lady  Maud,  and 
many  thanks." 

Maud  was  a  girl  of  great  singleness  of  purpose, 
and  in  the  ordinary  way,  when  she  was  out  for  a 
day's  fishing,  the  number  of  thoughts  that  came 
into  her  head  which  did  not  bear  directly  on  fish 
might  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  the  hand,  while 
even  these  were  present  to  her  mind  in  only  a 
very  far  off  and  indistinct  fashion.  But  to-day, 
during  the  hour 's  fishing  that  she  indulged  in  be- 
fore lunch,  her  thoughts  were  persistently  else- 
where, and  when  eventually  she  made  herself  a 
windless  seat  in  the  heather  overlooking  the  pool 
which  she  had  just  fished,  even  the  brace  of  sea- 
trout  she  had  already  caught,  and  the  prospective 
brace  or  so  that  she  promised  herself  after  lunch, 
actually  occupied  a  very  small  part  of  her  reflec- 
tions. 

1 1  Christian  Science ! ' '  She  had  indeed  a  ' '  touch 
of  derision  "  for  that  philosophy  and  its  philoso- 
phers, which  was  not  entirely  founded  on  igno- 
rance. Only  last  year  Alice  Yardly,  a  friend  of 
hers,  had  joined  that  church,  and  Maud  had 
summed  up  the  situation  by  saying  that  she  had 
always  thought  that  Alice — though  a  dear — was 
a  fool,  and  now  she  knew  it.  Certainly,  however, 
Lady  Yardly  did  not  in  the  least  resemble  Mr. 
Cochran  either  in  the  matter  of  folly,  because  it 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      51 

was  impossible  to  think  of  him  as  a  fool,  or  in  the 
matter  of  proselytizing.  For  Lady  Yardly  used 
to  proselytize  (quite  unsuccessfully)  by  the  hour, 
pouring  out  a  perfect  torrent  of  optimistic  gabble 
about  the  non-existence  of  pain  and  sickness,  and 
be  prostrated  next  day  by  one  of  the  nervous 
headaches  to  which  she  was  subject.  She  would 
call  this  a  false  claim  (though  it  was  at  least  an 
admirable  imitation  of  the  true),  "  demonstrate  " 
over  it,  which,  being  interpreted,  meant  assuring 
herself  that  she  could  not  have  a  nervous  head- 
ache, since  there  was  no  nervous  headache  in 
Divine  Love,  after  which  she  would  go  to  bed,  and 
wake  up  next  morning  without  any  headache,  con- 
vinced that  her  demonstration  had  banished  it. 
But  as  these  headaches  had  never  been  known  to 
last  more  than  one  day,  its  disappearance  on  the 
following  one  did  not  appear  to  Maud  to  be  quite 
so  triumphant  an  instance  of  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tian Science  as  she  herself  thought. 

And  then  this  dreadful  delirium  of  words,  texts 
torn  up  from  their  roots  and  made  to  prove  any- 
thing, the  flying  leaves  in  Mrs.  Eddy's  "  Key  to 
the  Scriptures  "  for.  paragraphs  bearing  on  the 
point,  all  to  convince  Maud,  as  far  as  she  could 
see,  of  what  she  herself  put  differently  when  she 
said  that  mind  had  a  great  influence  over  matter. 
But  that  proved  to  be  an  utter  mistake,  and 
wouldn't  do  for  Lady  Yardly  at  all,  who  insisted 


52       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

that  there  was  no  matter,  and  never  had  been, 
except  through  the  error  of  mortal  mind.  And 
then  it  would  be  time  for  her  to  go  and  dress  for 
dinner,  put  on  what  was  mistakenly  believed  to 
be  a  very  smart  white  satin  gown,  and  cover  her 
very  pretty  but  entirely  unreal  neck  with  a  non- 
existent dog  collar  of  purely  imaginary  diamonds. 
Last  winter,  too,  Alice  Yardly  had  a  false  claim 
of  influenza,  and  after  a  week  of  demonstrating 
over  it  and  not  taking  ordinary  precautions  it  had 
developed  into  a  further  false  claim  of  conges- 
tion of  the  lungs.  Three  weeks  more  demonstrat- 
ing over  congestion  of  the  lungs  (combined  this 
time  with  stopping  in  bed,  though  that  had  really 
nothing  to  do  with  it)  had  led  to  her  complete 
recovery,  and  the  subsequent  recital  of  this  won- 
derful cure  at  a  testimony  meeting.  But  when 
Maud  asked  her  why,  if  she  was  going  to  con- 
descend to  stop  in  bed  at  all  (especially  since 
stopping  in  bed  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  cure), 
she  should  not  have  done  so  when  she  had  the 
false  claim  of  influenza  instead  of  waiting  for  a 
false  claim  of  congestion,  this  led  only  to  the  kind 
Christian  Science  smile,  and  a  voluble  explanation, 
with  torrents  of  words  and  texts,  to  point  out  once 
again  from  the  very  beginning  that  she  did  not 
have  influenza  at  all.  No  further  progress,  in  fact, 
•could  be  made  over  the  argument,  for  though  Lady 
Yardly  did  not  refuse  to  answer  questions,  she 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE       53 

answered  them  with  such  volubility  and  with  so 
stern  a  determination  never  to  be  brought  up  to 
the  point  at  issue,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the 
enquirer  to  proceed.  All  sickness  and  illness  was 
inconceivable,  so  said  Lady  Yardly,  because  every- 
thing was  Infinite  Mind  (mortal  mind  did  not  really 
exist  any  more  than  matter),  and  to  state  that  fact 
over  and  over  again  in  a  variety  of  ways  was  held 
to  answer  any  question  that  might  be  asked,  of 
whatever  kind. 

Of  course,  Lady  Yardly  was  silly ;  she  seemed 
sometimes  to  have  no  mind,  either  mortal  or  any- 
thing else ;  she  was  always  that — though  a  dear — 
and  Maud,  as  she  sat  here  now  eating  her  lunch 
in  this  nook  in  the  heather,  with  the  wild  bees 
buzzing  about  her,  and  all  the  infinite  beneficent 
powers  of  Nature  pursuing  their  way  heedless  of 
any  interpretations  that  man  might  choose  to  put 
upon  them,  felt  she  had  done  an  injustice  in  ex- 
pecting a  woman  who  was,  yes,  very  silly,  to 
answer  questions  which,  though  quite  simple,  were 
undeniably  profound,  in  that  they  concerned  the 
origin  of  things.  Lady  Yardly  had  not  been  a 
Christian  Scientist  very  long,  and  Maud  told  her- 
self that  it  was  absurd  to  expect  her  all  at  once 
(she  who  had  understood  so  little  before)  to 
understand  everything.  But  what  rather  nettled 
her,  though  indeed  she  was  not  easily  nettled,  was 
to  find  that  this  same  dear,  stupid  person  did  pro- 


54       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

fess  herself  able  to  explain  everything — mind,  mat- 
ter and  God  alike.  She  claimed  to  have  recaptured 
the  faith  of  a  child,  and  to  argue  like  a  theologian 
about  it.  Maud  herself  was  a  professed  and  be- 
lieving Christian,  but  had  a  brilliant  Atheist  subtly 
questioned  her  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation, 
she  knew  quite  well  that  he  could  pose  her,  unless 
she  clung  to  the  simple  fact,  which  she  believed, 
that  God  was  made  man.  She  could  not  answer 
questions  he  might  easily  put  her  about  tran- 
substantiation  and  the  Presence,  but  she  hoped 
she  would  not  try  by  turning  a  blinding  squirt 
of  texts  upon  him  to  make  him  believe  that  she 
could  explain  everything  in  the  material  and  spir- 
itual world.  She  could  not — certain  things  were 
mysterious.  But  why  not  say  so?  That  these 
things  were  mysterious  did  not  prevent  her  being 
a  Christian.  She  believed,  too,  the  root  doctrine 
of  Christian  Science,  that  God  was  the  author  of 
the  world,  and  permeated  it  all.  But  surely  it  was 
simpler  and  truer  to  confess  that  one  did  not 
understand  the  whole  working  of  the  world  in  all 
its  details.  For  if  one  did,  one  could  manage  it 
all  one 's  self.  Lady  Yardly,  Maud  felt  sure,  would 
undertake  it  with  the  greatest  pleasure.  And  a 
pretty  mess  she  would  make  of  it!  thought  she. 
For  Alice  could  never  contrive  that  the  carriage 
should  ever  call  for  anybody  either  at  the  right 
time  or  the  right  place. 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       55 

Yet  .  .  .  the  law  of  gravity,  so  Maud  be- 
lieved, was  in  sound  working  order,  but  if  one 
asked  a  mere  child  to  explain  it,  and  he  explained 
it  wrongly,  that  should  not  make  one  distrust  the 
law,  but  only  the  ability  of  the  exponent.  And  in 
Christian  Science,  one  person  surely  knew  more 
about  it  (or,  anyhow,  knew  he  did  not  know)  than 
another,  and  she  confessed  to  herself  that  she  had 
formed  her  present  idea  of  it  on  the  answers,  or 
want  of  answers,  given  her  by  a  Scientist  whom 
she  had  always  thought  silly.  No  doubt  there 
were  others  who  were  not  silly.  But  what  a  pity 
that  the  silly  ones  were  allowed  to  gabble  like 
this!  Lady  Yardly  had  tried  to  proselytize  her, 
and  had  only  convinced  her  of  the  absurdity  of 
her  tenets.  But  Mr.  Cochran  had  refused  to  pros- 
elytize her,  and  she  would  rather  like  to  hear 
what  he  had  to  say  about  it. 

A  great  fish  jumped  clear  out  of  the  water  in 
the  pool  at  her  feet,  a  noble  silver-sided  salmon, 
which  for  the  moment  made  her  fisherman 's  heart 
leap  in  her  throat.  Well,  it  was  no  use  trying  for 
him — a  fish  that  leaped  like  that  never  took  the 
fly.  Then  she  smiled  at  herself,  for  she  knew  that 
though  that  reason  was  sound  enough,  it  was  not 
for  that  that  she  still  sat  in  her  sheltered  place. 
She  was  interested  in  something  else ;  she  wanted 
to  think  about  that. 

Mr.  Cochran  did  not  seem  silly ;  in  fact,  she  felt 


56       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

sure  he  was  not  silly.  What  if  she  asked  him 
when  he  came  to  dine  to-morrow  night  a  few  ques- 
tions which  Alice  Yardly  had  failed  to  answer? 
There  would  be  no  derision  now,  for  in  this  half 
hour  of  communing  with  herself  she  had  convinced 
herself  that  she  wanted  to  know.  There  was  no 
such  thing  as  illness — he  had  said  that,  he  had 
told  Duncan  that.  What  then  if  she  appealed  to 
him,  told  him  how  many  of  these  poor  folk  had 
died,  and  were  dying  of  typhoid,  and  asked  him 
to  stop  it  all?  Yet  that  was  too  much  to  ask;  it 
seemed  profane,  as  if  she  asked  him  to  invest  him- 
self in  the  insignia  of  Divinity.  But  might  he  not, 
she  asked,  as  she  could  now  ask  him,  without  deri- 
sion, without,  as  far  as  she  could  manage 'it,  un- 
belief in  the  huge  power  which  he  distinctly  pro- 
fessed to  wield,  might  he  not  relieve  one  sufferer, 
make  well  one  of  those  forty  who  would  be  lying 
sick  in  the  house  to-morrow?  But  then  there  oc- 
curred to  her  the  parrot-like  answer  of  Alice 
Yardly  when  she  had  asked  her  the  same  ques- 
tion. It  was  parrot-like,  glib,  and  without  convic- 
tion or  sense  of  true  meaning,  when  she  had  told 
her  that  it  was  wrong  to  make  a  "  cure  "  for  a 
sign.  How  hopelessly  she  misunderstood !  Maud 
did  not  want  a  sign,  she  wanted  that  suffering 
should  be  relieved.  How  was  it  possible  or  human 
to  withhold  that  power  simply  because  she  would 
be  interested  to  see  it  manifested?  It  was  in- 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      57 

human  to  withhold  it,  if  its  possessor  really  be- 
lieved that  it  was  his. 

But  there  was  Thurso.  It  was  better  that  he 
should  not  know  that  she  intended  to  ask  Mr. 
Cochran  to  do  this,  or  indeed  that  he  should  know 
that  she  had  asked  it.  There  Alice  Yardly's  con- 
tention seemed  to  her  to  be  possibly  true.  The 
presence  of  unbelief  might  indeed  hamper  the 
power  of  faith.  But  if  Thurso  did  not  know,  there 
would  be  no  unbelief  which  could  hamper  it.  She 
herself  did  not  disbelieve,  and,  honestly,  she 
wanted  to  believe.  She  derided  no  longer;  she 
was  conscious  of  an  open  mind  on  the  subject. 
She  believed  in  the  miraculous  cures  of  ancient 
days ;  she  saw  no  reason  why  modern  days  should 
not  witness  them  again. 

Yet  why  had  her  mind  changed,  and  the  derision 
vanished?  To  be  truthful,  it  was  because  of  this 
man's  personality.  He  seemed  wise  and  gentle 
and  self-reliant  in  that  he  relied  on  an  infinite 
power.  He  himself  entirely  trusted  in  that  power, 
and  it  was  exactly  that  which  made  Maud  trust 
him.  Then  she  pulled  herself  up  with  a  jerk- 
she  had  seen  this  man  once  for  ten  minutes,  and 
already  she  was  letting  her  imagination  run 
riot  about  him.  She  took  to  her  fishing  instead. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  shifting  and  removal  of  furniture  and  car- 
pets necessary  for  the  reception  of  the  patients 
next  day,  as  well  as  the  bringing  in  of  the  appli- 
ances of  the  sick  room,  were  complete  when  Maud 
got  home  that  evening,  and  she  found  the  doctor 
who  had  superintended  this  just  on  the  point  of 
leaving.  He  had  no  very  cheering  account  to  give 
of  several  of  the  patients  whom  Maud  asked  after, 
but  there  was  at  least  this  cause  for  thankfulness 
in  that  no  fresh  case  had  appeared  during  the  day. 

"  And  that,  too,  is  rather  odd,"  he  said,  "  for 
we  have  not  yet  been  able  to  discover  what  the 
cause  of  the  outbreak  was,  so  that  we  have  not 
intentionally  cut  off  any  source  of  infection.  But 
I  am  quite  content  not  to  know  what  it  was,  pro- 
vided it  is  cut  off. ' ' 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  she.  "  And  to-morrow 
you  will  fill  up  all  the  beds  here?  ' 

' '  Yes.  Of  course,  one  has  to  take  certain  risks, 
and  for  the  sake  of  the  fresher  air  and  better  at- 
tention they  can  receive  here  I  am  going  to  move 
some  very  serious  cases.  Eeally,  Lady  Maud, 
doctor  though  I  am  and  prescriber  of  drugs,  some- 
times I  wonder  whether  all  the  contents  of  all  the 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      59 

chemists'  shops  in  the  world  have  the  healing 
power  of  fresh  air  and  quiet. ' ' 

11  Oh,  do  you  think  that  quiet  cures  as  many 
people  as  work?"  asked  she. 

He  laughed. 

' '  Well,  work  is  the  best  medicine  if  you  are  not 
ill,  and  rest  if  you  are,"  he  said.  "  By  the  way, 
I  should  like  to  say  just  once  how  splendid  I 
think  it  is  of  you  and  Lord  Thurso  to  give  the 
house  up  like  this. ' ' 

"  It  was  entirely  Thurso 's  idea,"  she  said, 
"  and  it  really  seemed  so  obvious  when  he  sug- 
gested it.  Has  he  come  in  yet,  do  you  know?  " 

"  Yes,  he  came  in  half  an  hour  ago,  in  great 
pain  with  one  of  those  neuralgic  headaches,  I 
am  afraid.  He  is  rather  overdone.  He  wants 
rest." 

Maud  made  a  little  quick  movement  toward 
him. 

"  Not  seriously?  "  she  asked.  "  You  don't 
mean  that  there  is  anything  to  be  anxious 
about?  " 

11  No,  but  as  long  as  he  is  continually  anxious 
himself  and  constantly  tired,  those  headaches  will 
probably  be  rather  frequent.  One  only  hopes  he 
will  get  rest  soon;  one  does  not  want  them  to 
become  chronic. ' ' 

"  Chronic?  " 

11  Yes,  that  is  one  of  the  penalties  of  being 


60       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

highly-strung  from  a  nervous  point  of  view.  His 
nerves  are  very  easily  excited — one  does  not  want 
him  to  get  a  habit  of  that." 

Maud  was  silent  a  moment.  Then  she  spoke 
in  a  lower  tone. 

1  i  He  takes  laudanum  when  he  is  in  great  pain, ' ' 
she  said.  "  Is  that  unwise?  ' 

"  It  would  be  unwise  to  continue  doing  so  for 
long  together.  I  did  not  know,  by  the  way,  that 
he  took  it.  But  I  hope,  and  there  is  reason  for 
hoping  to-day,  that  we  have  seen  the  worst  of  this 
epidemic.  He  ought  to  be  able  to  get  away  be- 
fore many  days.  I  tell  you  frankly,  I  shall  be 
glad  when  he  does." 

"  Ought  he  to  go  now,  do  you  think?  "  she 
asked. 

Dr.  Symes  looked  at  her  a  moment  before  reply- 
ing. 

"  No,  I  think  he  ought  to  stop  here.  He  is 
running  a  certain  risk  of  producing  that  chronic 
condition  of  irritated  nerves,  and  also  a  certain 
risk  in  stopping  the  pain  by  the  use  of  laudanum. 
But  I  think,  well,  his  duty  keeps  him  here.  Our 
orders  and  the  nurses'  orders  are  obeyed  when 
they  know  that  Lord  Thurso  is  backing  us  up. 
You  have  no  idea  of  the  difficulties  we  had  before 
you  and  he  came.  Well,  I  must  get  down  to  the 
village  again.  And,  Lady  Maud,  I  like  brave 
people  like  you  and  your  brother.  Good-night! 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE       61 

The    patients    will    begin    to    arrive    early    to- 
morrow. ' ' 


Thurso,  to  his  sister's  great  relief,  came  down 
to  dinner  in  the  most  equable  and  cheerful  spirits. 
All  trace  of  his  headache  had  vanished,  and  Maud 
thought  that  Dr.  Symes  must  have  been  mistaken 
about  it.  In  any  case,  according  to  her  plan,  it 
was  her  part  to  take  his  thoughts  away  from  the 
sombreness  of  the  day,  and  she  had  the  huge 
comedy  of  her  own  poaching  to  talk  about. 

"  Thurso,  I've  done  the  most  awful  thing  that 
anyone  ever  did,"  she  said.  "  After  you  went 
out  this  morning  I  went  down  to  fish  in  the  river, 
and  was  firm  in  a  salmon  when — when  Mr.  Walter 
Cochran  appeared.  How  could  you  forget  to  tell 
me  you  had  let  the  fishing?  There  I  was,  tied  to 
it,  to  his  fish.  And  of  course  I  didn't  know  him 
from  Adam." 

Thurso,  for  the  first  moment,  was  almost  as 
horrified  as  Maud  had  been. 

"  Good  Lord!  "  he  said.  "  I  hope  you  lost  the 
fish." 

"  Not  at  all.  Owing  to  Mr.  Cochran,  I  landed 
it.  In  the  nick  of  time  down  came  Duncan — his 
gillie,  not  ours  at  all — with  a  gaff.  Mr.  Cochran 
looked  on  with  interest  and  sympathy.  I  had 
only  light  tackle  for  sea-trout.  The  whole  situa- 
tion dawned  on  me  by  degrees,  but  not  before  I 


62       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

had  told  Mr.  Cochran  in  a  rather  dignified  man- 
ner that  it  was  your  river.  But  I  asked  him  to 
come  and  dine  to-morrow  night  and  help  to  eat 
his  own  fish." 

Thurso  broke  out  into  immoderate  laughter. 

' '  Oh,  dear,  oh,  dear !  "  he  cried.  ' '  What  would 
I  not  have  given  to  be  there  when  the  situation 
dawned  on  you.  And  to  ask  him  to  dinner  was 
to  add  insult  to  injury.  You  are  caught  poaching 
— poaching,  you  know — and  then  ask  the  rightful 
owner  to  come  and  have  some.  A  perfect 
stranger,  too.  He  will  probably  cable  an  exag- 
gerated account  of  it  to  a  New  York  newspaper, 
or  the  paper  of  whatever  town  he  comes  from. 
At  least,  it  can't  be  exaggerated.  Even  American 
ingenuity  would  be  taxed  to  concoct  anything  more 
outrageous  than  the  simple  truth. ' ' 

Maud  joined  in  his  laughter. 

1  i  It  is  pretty  bad,"  she  said.  "  And  then  we 
sat  and  talked,  and  really  he  is  delightful.  He 
asked  me  to  go  on  fishing,  too;  and  you  will 
scarcely  believe  it,  but  I  did,  and  caught  six  sea- 
trout.  He  made  it  quite  easy  for  me  to  say  *  yes. ' 
I  couldn't  have  said  '  no.' 

Thurso  laughed  again. 

"  But  how  could  you?  "  he  asked.  "  I  never 
heard  such  brazen  cheek. ' ' 

"  Not  at  all.  When  you  see  Mr.  Cochran  you 
will  understand  how  simple  it  was." 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE       63 

"  I  have  seen  him.  I  am  sure  it  was  he  I  met 
yesterday  down  in  the  village.  It  occurred  to  me 
then  that  we  might  ask  him  to  dinner.  It  was  that 
I  began  to  suggest  last  night." 

"  Well,  don't  you  understand  then!  " 

Thurso  considered  this. 

"  Yes;  even  though  I  did  not  speak  to  him,  I 
think  I  do.  He  does  seem  to  me  the  sort  of  man 
whose  sea-trout  you  might  catch  after  he  had 
caught  you  poaching  his  salmon.  That's  rather 
a  high  compliment.  It  is  a  great  gift  to  be  able 
to  make  people  not  ashamed  of  themselves.  I 
should  have  sunk  into  the  earth  with  shame,  but 
you  say  that  Mr.  Cochran  would  very  kindly  have 
pulled  me  out." 

There  was  a  moment's  pause,  during  which 
Maud  debated  whether  she  should  tell  her  brother 
that  Mr.  Cochran  was  a  Christian  Scientist.  But 
his  remark  that  it  was  not  his  "  way  "  to  prose- 
lytize made  her  decide  not  to.  Then  Thurso  spoke 
again. 

' '  Do  you  know  it  is  the  first  day  that  I  haven 't 
felt  simply  overwhelmed  with  depression  and 
anxiety?  "  he  said.  "  There  has  been  no  fresh 
case  since  morning,  and  Duncan's  wife,  who,  like 
Sandy,  was  almost  despaired  of,  has  taken  a  sud- 
den inexplicable  turn  for  the  better.  She  was1 
dying  of  sheer  exhaustion  from  fever,  and  now 
all  day  she  has  been  gaining  strength,  gaining  it 


64      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

quickly,  too.  I  saw  Duncan  this  evening.  He — 
really,  I  wondered  whether  he  had  been  drink- 
ing." 

"  Drinking?  "  asked  Maud.  "  Why,  Duncan's  a 
teetotaler." 

11  The  worst  sort  of  drunkard,"  remarked 
Thurso  rather  cynically. 

"  Oh,  don't  be  cheap,"  said  Maud.  "  Dun- 
can's as  sober  as  I  am.  Goon.  It  interests  me." 

11  Well,  it  all  leads  back  to  Mr.  Cochran  again," 
he  said.  ' '  Anyhow,  when  I  looked  in  to-night  be- 
fore coming  up,  there  was  Duncan  sitting  by  his 
wife's  bedside,  nursing  the  baby,  who  was,  with 
extraordinary  gurgles,  trying  to  swarm  up  his 
beard.  Fancy  bringing  a  baby  into  a  room  where 
there  was  a  typhoid  patient !  Of  course  I  got  Dun- 
can and  the  baby  out,  and  told  him  that  his  wife 
was  really  on  the  mend,  as  the  nurse  had  just 
told  me.  I  thought  he  would  like  to  hear  that, 
but  apparently  he  had  known  it  all  day.  Our  Mr. 
Cochran  had  told  him  that  his  wife  was  getting 
better  every  minute. ' ' 

"  Yes,  I  heard  him  tell  him,"  said  Maud. 

"  Well,  but  how  did  he  know?  "  asked  Thurso. 
"  This  morning  they  thought  she  couldn't  live 
through  the  day.  And,  anyhow,  what  has  our  Mr. 
Cochran  got  to  do  with  it?  And  who  is  he  apart 
from  the  fact  that  you  kindly  poached  a  salmon 
of  his?  " 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE       65 

Maud  had  no  reply  to  this  at  once.  "  Our  Mr. 
Cochran  "  had  repudiated  preaching  on  his  own 
account;  certainly  then  it  was  not  her  business 
to  preach  for  him. 

"Anyhow,  our  Mr.  Cochran  looks  quite  all 
right,"  she  said. 

' '  I  know  he  does.  But  apparently  if  Mr.  Coch- 
ran tells  Duncan  that  his  wife  is  going  to  get 
better,  when  she  is  in  the  very  jaws  of  death, 
Duncan  has  only  got  to  walk  home,  and  find  that 
it  is  so.  Oh,  and  another  thing.  Dr.  Symes  called 
there  this  afternoon  on  his  round,  and  Duncan 
kindly  but  quite  firmly  refused  to  let  him  in  at 
all  unless  he  promised  not  to  give  her  any  more 
medicine.  So  he  promised,  because,  as  he  told 
me,  she  was  absolutely  past  hope  when  he  saw 
her  last.  Then  he  wanted  to  take  her  tempera- 
ture, but  Duncan,  again  firmly,  threw  the  ther- 
mometer into  the  grate,  though  it  wasn't  exactly 
medicine.  That  is  why  I  supposed  he  was  drunk. ' ' 

"  No,  I'm  sure  he"  wasn't  drunk,"  said  Maud 
again.  "  Go  on,  dear!  " 

They  had  finished  dinner,  and  Thurso  left  the 
table  to  get  a  cigarette. 

"  That's  all,"  he  said.  "  Dr.  Symes  tells  me 
he  has  seen  that  sort  of  recovery  before,  but  some- 
how I  feel  it  odd  that  our  Mr.  Cochran  should, 
so  to  speak,  have  foreseen  it.  Is  he  a  crank,  do 
you  think?  A  spiritualist  or  something  of  that 


66      THE   HOUSE    OP   DEFENCE 

kind?  Not  that  I  believe  in  them,  but  any  quack 
goes  right  sometimes." 

Again  Maud  mentally  reviewed  her  decision 
not  to  do  Mr.  Cochran's  preaching  (which  he 
would  not  do  himself )  for  him. 

"  How  do  you  expect  me  to  know?  "  she  said. 
"  I  talked  to  a  stranger  for  ten  minutes.  But 
he's  coming  to  dine  to-morrow,  so  you  can  judge 
for  yourself.  And  how  have  you  been  ?  No  head- 
ache? " 

He  glanced  at  her  sharply  and  sideways  a  mo- 
ment, as  if  suspecting  something. 

"  Headache?  "  he  asked.  "  I  don't  seem  much 
like  headache  this  evening,  do  I?  Why?  ' 

"  Only  Dr.  Symes  said  he  was  afraid  you  were 
in  pain." 

Thurso  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

11  Lord,  how  those  doctors  jaw!  "  he  said. 
'  *  They  want  everybody  to  be  ill,  in  order  to  make 
them  well.  Amiable,  but  rather  egoistic." 

Maud  asked  no  further  questions  about  this, 
nor  sought  to  excuse  Dr.  Symes 's  blunder.  But, 
knowing  him,  it  seemed  to  her  very  odd  that  he 
should  have  thought  that  Thurso  had  been  suf- 
fering if  he  had  not.  For  it  was  only  when  he 
was  in  the  extreme  of  pain  that  anyone,  even  a 
doctor,  could  guess  that  he  was  on  the  rack,  for 
it  had  to  be  much  screwed  down  before  he  visibly 


winced.  For  one  moment  it  flashed  through  her 
mind  that  he  had  been  in  pain  and  had  taken 
laudanum,  and  had — well,  practically  lied  to  her 
about  it,  for  his  answer,  though  slightly  evasive, 
certainly  was  meant  to  bear  the  construction  that 
he  had  had  neither  headache  nor  drug.  But  she 
dismissed  that  at  once,  and  if  Thurso  told  her 
anything,  or  implied  it,  it  was  not  her  habit  to 
question  the  truth  of  it. 

The  two  sat  up  rather  late  that  night.  Maud, 
like  all  young  strong  folk,  hated  going  to  bed  as 
much  as,  if  not  more,  than  she  hated  getting  up, 
and  it  was  usually  Thurso  who  proposed  the  ad- 
journment. But  to-night  he  was  extraordinarily 
alert.  As  he  had  said,  to-day  had  been  the  first 
day  in  which  there  had  been  any  break  in  that 
tempest  of  illness  which  was  devastating  the  vil- 
lage; to-day  also  he  had  been  better  himself,  and 
spoke  of  other  things  than  the  immediate  pre- 
occupations that  surrounded  them.  Chief  among 
them  was  London  and  the  reopening  of  Thurso 
House.  His  father,  the  last  holder  of  the  title, 
had  died  just  a  year  ago,  and  next  week  the  house 
was  to  celebrate  its  re-entry  into  London  life  with 
an  adequately  magnificent  ball.  His  wife,  who 
had  stopped  in  town,  was  seeing  to  this,  and  when 
Lily  undertook  to  see  to  a  thing,  it  was  unneces- 
sary for  anyone  else,  however  closely  concerned, 


^8      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

to  feel  any  anxiety  about  the  completeness  with 
which  it  would  be  seen  to. 

"  I  heard  from  Lily  this  morning,"  he  said; 
"  at  least  I  heard  from  her  typewriter.  She  did 
.not  even  sign  it.  She  is  up  to  the  eyes  in  a  mil- 
lion things,  and  really  it  seems  to  me  as  if  the 
most  of  the  festivities  as  well  as  all  the  charities 
in  this  world  would  collapse  unless  she  was  presi- 
dent of  them  all.  The  ball  next  week,  too !  I  shall 
go  up  for  the  night,  of  course,  though  whether  I 
stop  depends  on  how  things  go  here.  You  will 
•come,  won't  you?  " 

Maud  looked  at  him  in  studiedly  mild  surprise. 

* '  Good  gracious,  Thurso, ' '  she  said.  *  *  Did  you 
suppose  that  Thurso  House  was  going  to  make 
its  debut  again,  and  me  not  there!  Of  course,  I 
shall  come.  It  will  be  crammed  with  kings  and 
queens  like  *  Alice  in  Wonderland.'  Oh,  Thurso, 
what  a  good  thing  Lily  is  so  smart.  I  hate  the 
word,  but  she  is,  she's  magnificent.  If  you  go  in 
for  the  world,  there  are  only  two  sorts  of  party 
possible,  either  to  have  your  grand  party,  as  she's 
going  to  do  now,  with  kings  and  queens  literally 
treading  on  each  other's  toes,  or  have  quiet  little 
dinners,  as  she  does,  with  two  or  three  real  friends. 
I  hate  the  middling  parties,  where  a  lot  of  mere 
acquaintances  are  asked  to  meet  some  Serene 
Transparency  from  Lower  Germany.  Of  course 
you  will  go,  and  of  course  I'll  come  with  you.  Do 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      69 

have  a  special  train  all  the  way  to  London.  It 
will  be  so  expensive.  Lily  said  to  me  the  other 
day,  '  If  you  don't  have  a  special,  go  third  class/ 
She  is  quite  consistent  about  it  herself,  too." 

"  She  usually  has  specials,"  remarked  Thurso, 

"  But  she  does  go  third  class,  and  talks  to  the 
navvy  opposite.  And  on  the  tops  of  omnibuses, 
I  have  often  been  with  her  on  the  top  of  an  omni- 
bus. But  she  doesn't  go  in  cabs;  she  says  they 
are  middling.  When  the  twenty-five  million  horse- 
power motor  is  there,  up  she  gets  on  the  omnibus,. 
She  never  stops  them  either,  because  of  the  horses. 
She  runs  after  them,  and  gets  on  quite  beauti- 
fully." 

"  Gets  on?  " 

' '  Yes,  on  the  'bus,  and  with  all  the  other  people 
sitting  on  the  top  of  it." 

"  That's  a  new  game,  isn't  it!  " 

"  Yes;  it's  becoming  quite  popular,  owing  to 
her.  She  is  splendid!  I  admire  her  quite  enor- 
mously. ' ' 

Thurso  laughed. 

"  So  do  I.  And  it's  something  to  admire  your 
wife  when  you've  been  married  twelve  years." 

Maud  made  a  little  sideways  movement  in  her 
chair,  as  if  her  position  had  become  suddenly  un- 
comfortable. Her  brother  continued: 

' '  I  don 't  believe  a  woman  ever  existed  who  was 
so  clearly  admirable, ' '  he  said.  * '  We  went  to  the 


70       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

opera  together  the  night  before  I  came  up  here. 
She  was  going  to  the  Buckingham  Palace  ball 
afterwards,  and  was — well,  suitably  dressed." 

Maud  felt,  as  she  always  felt  when  Thurso 
talked  like  this,  as  if  a  file  had  been  drawn  across 
her  teeth.  Often  as  it  had  happened,  she  never 
got  used  to  it.  She  tried  to  turn,  not  the  conver- 
sation, but  its  tone. 

"  Oh,  how?  "  she  asked  with  deep  and  genuine 
interest,  for,  like  all  healthily-minded  girls,  she 
loved  beautiful  clothes,  especially  when  beautiful 
people  wore  them.  "  She  always  makes  every- 
body else  look  dowdy  and  badly  dressed.  That 
must  be  such  fun!  '• 

"  Well,  she  had  the  diamond  palisade,  as  she 
calls  it,  in  her  hair,  and  the  ruby  plaster.  Her 
dress?  I  don't  know  what  it  was,  but  it  looked — 
well,  you  know  what  whipped  cream  looks  like 
compared  to  cream — it  looked  like  whipped  gold. 
Sort  of  froth  of  gold — not  yellow,  but  gold.  Melba 
was  in  the  middle  of  the  l  Jewel  Song  '  when  we 
came  in,  but  at  the  end  of  it  nobody  was  paying  the 
slightest  attention  to  her.  Every  opera-glass  in 
the  house  was  turned  on  Lily.  She  applauded 
Melba  vigorously  and  split  a  glove.  But  nobody 
else  did,  though  she  sang  divinely." 

He  got  up  and  chucked  his  cigarette-end  away. 

11  And  she's  my  wife,"  he  said,  and  the  four 
words  carried  tons  of  irony. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       71 

Maud  got  up  also.  She  hated  this,  and  she 
knew  it  all  so  well.  It  was  only  to  her  that  Thurso 
talked  like  that. 

"  Oh,  it  is  such  a  pity,"  she  said.  "  You  are 
both  such  splendid  people,  you  know.  And — 
and " 

"  And  I  bore  her,  and  she  gets  on  my  nerves," 
he  remarked. 

Maud  gave  a  little  labial  sound  of  disapproval, 
which  is  usually  written,  "  Tut,  tut." 

"  Don't  say  such  things,"  she  exclaimed.  "  It 
is  a  pity  to  say  them  just  because  they  are  true; 
if  they  weren't  true  it  wouldn't  particularly  sig- 
nify. But  to  say  a  true  thing,  when  that  thing  is 
a  pity,  only  makes  it  more  real.  Speech  stamps 
everything.  You  don't  do  her  justice,  any  more 
than  she  does  you  justice.  You  both  expect  the 
other  to  be  like  them.  "What  beautiful  grammar ! 
And — Thurso,  she  isn  't  happy  any  more  than  you 
are. ' ' 

"  Why  do  you  think  that?  She  makes  forty- 
eight  hours  out  of  every  day,  and  fills  them  all, 
while  the  world,  like  you  and  me,  looks  on  with 
envious  admiration.  That  is  her  ideal.  She  at- 
tains it  always.  And  Lady  Thurso 's  husband 
claps  his  hands  too!  ' 

Maud  took  him  by  the  shoulder  and  shook  him 
gently. 

"  Idiot!  "  she  said.    "  Idiot!    Think  it  over.    I 


72       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

am  going  to  bed.  Thank  me  for  catching  so  many 
beautiful  fish." 

"I'm  not  sure  that  I  thank  you  for  asking  Mr. 
Cochran  to  dinner  to-morrow, ' '  he  said.  ' '  Maud, 
I  do  like  these  quiet  evenings  with  you.  We  are 
not  smart.  Neither  you  nor  I. ' ' 

' '  No ;  it's  our  defect,  dear.  Besides,  I  am,  when 
I  choose.  I  shall  be  smart  at  your  ball.  Good- 
night. What  a  nice  day  it  has  been!  No  fresh 
case  of  typhoid  to-day  for  the  people,  and  no 
headache  for  you,  and  a  salmon  for  me.  The  luck 
is  coming  our  way !  ' 

The  next  day  was  wholly  given  up  to  the  in- 
stallation of  the  typhoid  patients.  Carpets  and 
curtains  had  been  rolled  up  and  beds  brought  up 
.and  down  from  basement  and  attic,  so  that  the  ut- 
most accommodation  might  be  furnished  in  the 
large  rooms  on  the  ground  floor.  Dr.  Symes  had 
decided  that  it  was  better  to  run  a  little  risk  and 
move  even  bad  cases  up  here,  for  the  sake  of  the 
more  immediate  attention  and  the  larger  supply 
of  fresh  air  than  was  possible  when  they  were 
scattered  about  in  cottage  rooms,  and  the  ambu- 
lance, going  backwards  and  forwards  all  day, 
brought  grave  burdens  on  it.  But  by  five  in  the 
afternoon  the  work  of  transportation  was  done, 
and  the  house  was  full.  Afterwards  the  doctors 
went  the  round  of  their  patients,  and  such  risk  as 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      73 

might  have  been  run  was  well  justified  by  results. 
Not  one  apparently  had  suffered  for  the  move, 
and  now,  instead  of  their  being  in  small,  ill-venti- 
lated chambers,  they  were  airily  housed,  with 
every  facility  for  constant  supervision  from  the' 
nurses.  Most,  too,  were  going  on  very  well,  but 
there  was  one  case,  that  of  Sandy,  the  gillie,  which 
was  as  serious  as  it  could  be.  Like  many  strong 
men,  it  seemed  as  if  the  fever  had  appropriated 
his  strength,  vampire-like,  for  its  own  nourish- 
ment, and  Dr.  Symes,  before  he  left,  had  given 
orders  that  he  should  be  sent  for  at  once  if  any 
further  unfavorable  symptoms  appeared.  Dun- 
can's wife,  it  is  true,  had  been  in  no  less  perilous 
a  case  this  very  morning;  it  was  very  unlikely 
that  two  should  be  snatched  from  the  closing  jaws 
of  death. 

Thurso  had  been  in  the  house  the  whole  dayr 
feeling  it  conscientiously  impossible  not  to  be 
there,  and  when  it  was  all  over  he  went  to  the 
room  in  which  he  and  Maud  lived,  desperately 
tired,  and  intending  to  get  an  hour's  sleep  before 
dinner.  But  because  one  has  an  intention,  how- 
ever innocent  or  laudable,  it  does  not  necessarily" 
follow  that  one's  best  efforts  are  able  to  put  it 
into  effect,  and  instead,  in  this  instance,  having 
composed  himself  to  sleep,  he  felt  broadly  and 
staringly  awake.  As  he  lay  on  the  sofa,  with  his 
face  away  from  the  light,  his  eyes  shut  and  his 


74      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

attitude  conducive  to  repose,  a  hundred  vivid  pic- 
tures crossed  his  brain.  An  interminable  series 
of  stretchers,  each  with  its  still  fever-stricken 
burden  upon  it,  came  up  the  uncarpeted  stairs,  and 
even  as  he  hoped  that  their  monotonous  proces- 
sion was  the  precursor  of  unconsciousness,  another 
image  stole  in  by  the  back  door,  so  to  speak,  and 
diverted  his  attention.  Maud  had  gone  fishing 
yesterday,  and  had  enjoyed  good  sport,  so  the 
procession  of  stretchers  was  interrupted  only  to 
make  way  for  the  vision  of  her  landing  fish  after 
fish,  till  it  seemed  that  this  endless  repetition  must 
end  in  sleep.  But  the  back  door  opened  again,  and 
reverting  to  their  conversation  of  the  night  before, 
Lily  stood  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  in  Thurso 
House  receiving  kings  and  queens,  and  queens  and 
kings.  But  the  drowsiness  produced  by  that  ended 
again  not  in  slumber,  but  in  something  that  was 
very  antagonistic  to  it.  There  was  just  a  little 
stab — it  was  hardly  pain — inside  his  head,  as  in- 
finitesimal as  the  sound  of  an  electric  bell  in  the 
basement.  Then  it  was  repeated,  but  louder  and 
more  insistently,  as  if  the  bell  were  half-way  up 
the  kitchen  stairs.  Then — it  was  beginning  to  be 
pain  now — it  was  as  if  the  ringer  of  the  electric 
bell  grew  impatient,  and  left  his  finger  on  it,  while 
all  the  time  the  bell  came  closer.  He  was  quite 
wide-awake  now,  and  opened  his  eyes.  Then  he 
said  to  himself,  "  I  am  in  for  another." 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       75 

That  was  perfectly  true  and  the  prediction  be- 
gan to  be  fulfilled  at  once,  a  thing  that  ought 
to  be  satisfactory  to  the  prophet.  The  idea  of  an 
electric  bell  ceased — it  was  pain,  quite  distinctly 
and  decidedly.  It  stabbed  half  a  dozen  times  with 
a  firm,  clear  touch,  and  then  for  the  moment  it 
ceased.  Immediately  afterwards  it  began  again, 
but  differently.  Instead  of  stabbing  at  the  nerve, 
it  laid  a  cold,  steady  finger  on  it,  and  the  finger 
grew  colder  and  steadier,  till  something  inside 
his  head  seemed  to  ring  with  it,  like  a  musical 
glass.  Then  came  a  brilliant  passage  of  all  sorts 
of  pain,  as  if  the  orchestra  had  begun  to  accom- 
pany that  dreadful  solo;  there  was  a  long,  cold 
note  held  down  and  wonderful  arpeggios  of  tor- 
ture crossed  it  up  and  down.  That  was  the  pre- 
lude. 

In  his  room  upstairs,  which  he  could  reach  in 
four  seconds,  there  stood  on  his  dressing-table  a 
bottle,  not  very  large,  which  contained  not  only 
the  antidote  and  instant  cure  of  his  pain,  but 
blissful  visions  and  the  gift  of  ecstatic  well-being. 
But  the  very  fact  that  yesterday  he  had  so  lightly 
(or  so  it  seemed  now)  had  recourse  to  that,  and 
had  so  revelled  in  the  Paradise  in  which  it  in- 
stantly set  him,  made  him  this  moment  utterly 
turn  his  back  on  the  idea  of  resorting  to  it  again. 
If  he  had  got  to  bear  pain — and  it  really  appeared 
as  if  he  had — then  he  would  set  his  teeth  and  bear 


76       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

it,  but  he  would  not,  at  the  cost  of  the  formation  of 
an  evil  habit,  drug  himself  into  remission  from 
the  pain,  or,  what  even  now  while  he  was  suffer- 
ing tempted  him  more  nearly,  into  that  blissful 
harmony  of  being  that  the  drug  gave  him. 

Then  his  desire  disguised  itself  and  came  to  him 
more  insidiously :  there  was  a  guest  coming  to  din- 
ner to-night:  he  could  not  simply  retire  to  bed, 
leaving  Maud  to  entertain  Mr.  Cochran,  nor,  on 
the  other  hand,  did  it  seem  to  him  to  be  physically 
possible  that  he  should  get  through  dinner  in  this 
state.  Besides,  the  actual  pain  which  was  his  at 
this  moment  was,  he  knew  well,  a  mere  bagatelle 
to  what  was  coming.  It  was  only  the  prelude  as 
yet :  a  remarkably  complete  orchestra  would  soon 
begin.  Yet  his  intention  was  still  firm,  he  did  not 
propose  to  seek  the  relief  that  was  standing  ready 
for  him.  He  knew  that  his  desire  for  it  was  so 
acute,  not  only  because  of  the  cessation  of  pain 
that  it  could  bring,  but  because  of  the  intense 
physical  enjoyment  that  it  gave  him.  It  was  there 
that  his  danger  lay.  Then  with  head  splitting 
and  buzzing  with  pain  he  went  upstairs  to  dress 
and  make  ready  to  entertain  his  guest.  He  had 
some  forty  other  guests,  too,  in  the  house:  they, 
however,  were  well  looked  after. 

Breeding,  and  what  is  implied  by  that  much- 
misused  word,  includes  courage  of  a  rather  heroic 
kind,  since  this  sort  of  courage  has  no  stirring 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       77 

aids,  no  trumpets  and  drums  to  beat  it  up  to  its 
proper  level.  For  it  implies  a  greater  command  of 
self,  a  greater  respect  for  the  courtesies  of  life  to 
be  courageous  in  humdrum  situations  than  in 
those  to  which  romance  and  excitement  impart 
stimulus,  and  certainly  to-night  Thurso's  per- 
fectly natural  and  even  convivial  manner  toward 
his  guest  and  his  sister,  while  he  himself  was  suf- 
fering pain  of  the  most  excruciating  kind,  was 
courage  that  deserved  in  its  small  sphere  as  much 
applause  as  some  great  Victoria  Cross  deed  in  a 
larger  one.  And  though  most  people  have  more 
manliness  than  they  or  anybody  else  would  have 
suspected,  when  pain  has  got  to  be  borne  or  a 
heart-rending  situation  faced,  yet  to  have  the 
ready  smile,  the  attentive  ear,  the  genial  manner, 
under  such  circumstances  is  a  fine  test  of  the 
courage  of  high-breeding.  All  through  dinner 
this  was  triumphantly  achieved  by  Thurso,  and  it 
was  through  no  remission  or  failure  on  his  part, 
but  by  instinct  born  of  intimate  knowledge  on 
Maud's,  that  she  knew  that  he  was  going  through 
hells  of  physical  torture.  Sometimes  he  just  bit 
his  lip  for  a  moment,  sometimes  in  the  middle  of  a 
sentence  he  would  make  a  pause  that  was  scarcely 
noticeable,  sometimes  he  gripped  his  knife  or 
fork  so  that  the  skin  over  his  knuckles  showed 
white,  but  that  was  all.  He  talked  quite  easily 
and  naturally,  made  reference  to  Maud's  poach- 


ing  expedition,  and  its  satisfactory  results  as  far 
as  dinner  was  concerned,  for  the  salmon  was  ex- 
cellent, and  went  on  to  speak  of  the  epidemic 
which  had  brought  him  up  North. 

11  But  at  last  it  shows  some  sign  of  abating," 
he  said,  "  though  we  are  still  ignorant  of  the 
source  of  it.  In  fact,  there  has  been  no  fresh 
case  either  to-day  or  yesterday." 

Maud  looked  up  at  Mr.  Cochran,  wishing  rather 
intently  that  he  would  preach  his  Gospel.  She 
felt  somehow  certain  that  it  would  do  Thurso 
good,  take  his  mind  off  the  pain  that  flickered 
round  him  like  a  shower  of  knives.  But  the 
Gospel  was  veiled,  at  any  rate. 

"  I  think  it's  so  good  of  you  to  bring  the  cases 
up  here,"  he  said.  "  Lady  Maud  told  me  yester- 
day that  you  were  doing  so.  I  am  sure  it  must 
help  toward  recovery  to  remove  people  from  sur- 
roundings which  they  associate  with  illness  to 
fresh  bright  places." 

He  paused  a  moment. 

"  One  sees  that  every  day,"  he  said.  "  If  you 
associate  a  place  with  pleasure  you  are  pleased 
to  go  back.  The  mind,  left  to  itself,  clings  so  to 
material  things.  Because  one  has  been  happy  in 
a  certain  room,  one  always  thinks  that  those  sur- 
roundings will  tend  to  produce  happiness  again. 
It  is  one  of  the  illusions  we  get  rid  of  last." 

Thurso  began  to  speak. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       79 


i  <. 


You  mean — "  he  said,  and  then  stopped. 
For  a  moment  he  could  not  go  on,  so  sharp  an 
access  of  pain  seized  him.  "  You  mean  I  shall 
always  associate  this  house  with  typhoid  and 
sick,  suffering  people  ?  "  he  asked  after  a  mo- 
ment. "  That  is  not  very  cheering." 

Walter  Cochran's  happy,  childlike  eyes  looked 
at  Maud  a  moment,  and  then  at  his  host. 

"  No,  I  mean  just  the  opposite,"  he  said. 
11  You  will  always  associate  this  house  with  re- 
covery, with  the  sweeping  away  of  illness  and 
pain. ' ' 

Dinner  was  at  an  end,  and  the  momentary 
pause  of  cigarette-lighting  followed.  Walter 
Cochran  had  taken  one  as  he  spoke,  but  he  did 
not  light  it,  and  laid  it  down  on  the  cloth.  Then 
he  got  up  quickly. 

"  Lord  Thurso,  you  are  awfully  brave,"  he 
said.  "  I  am  sure  you  feel  in  horrible  pain.  Let 
me  go  right  away  now.  I  have  enjoyed  coming 
up  to  dine  with  Lady  Maud  and  you  ever  so 
much. ' ' 

For  the  last  minute  or  two  the  pain  had  be- 
come so  much  more  acute  that  Thurso 's  face  was 
wet  with  perspiration.  All  during  dinner,  too, 
the  longing,  the  drunkard's  desire  to  get  to  his 
room  and  take  a  dose  from  that  healing  bottle, 
had  been  growing.  And  now  when  his  pain,  in 


spite  of  his  gallantry  in  concealing  it,  was  dis- 
covered, the  desire  became  overwhelming,  he 
could  no  longer  check  it. 

"Pray  don't  think  of  going  away,"  he  said, 
' '  but  if  you  will  excuse  me  for  ten  minutes  I  will 
then  rejoin  you.  Pray  don't  go.  I  shall  be  down 
again  in  quite  a  short  time.  I  have  some  medi- 
cine that  never  fails  to  set  me  right.  Yes,  the 
pain  has  been  pretty  bad." 

For  one  moment  it  appeared  that  Cochran  had 
something  on  the  tip  of  his  tongue,  for  he  turned 
to  Thurso  eagerly,  his  mouth  open.  But  it  was 
clear  to  Maud,  when  he  did  speak,  that  the  speech 
was  not  his  original  thought. 

"  I  shall  be  delighted  to  stop,"  he  said,  "  if 
Lady  Maud  does  not  mind  my  being  on  her  hands 
a  few  minutes.  I  wanted  so  much  to  ask  about 
one  or  two  of  the  pools  on  the  river." 

He  sat  down  again  as  Thurso  went  out,  and 
turned  to  her  with  the  same  eagerness  as  he  had 
shown  a  minute  ago. 

"  I  don't  ever  want  to  preach,"  he  said,  "  but 
I  love  to  practise.  I  didn't  know  whether  your 
brother  would  like  my  suggesting  it,  though." 

Somehow  Maud  froze  into  herself  a  little  at 
that.  The  idea  of  Mr.  Cochran 's  "  treating  " 
Thurso  for  his  neuralgia  was  somehow  out  of 
the  question.  She  would  not  think  of  such  a 
thing,  she  felt  sure,  too,  it  was  idle  to  ask  him. 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      81 

"  Oh,  thank  you  very  much,"  she  said,  "  but 
his  medicine  always  puts  him  right,"  and  she  be- 
gan at  once,  as  he  had  suggested,  to  speak  about 
the  river  and  certain  pools  which  he  found  difficul- 
ty in  fishing  satisfactorily. 

Thurso  meantime  had  almost  run  to  his  room, 
for  he  longed  for  the  relief  that  he  knew  awaited 
him  there  as  the  desert-parched  traveller  longs 
for  water.  He  longed,  too,  and  much  more 
keenly,  for  the  tingling  ecstatic  sense  of  well- 
being  that  the  laudanum  produced.  All  day, 
even  before  this  racking  headache  came  on,  he 
had  been  almost  unable  to  think  of  anything  but 
that.  All  day  he  had  thirsted,  even  when  he 
definitely  rejected  the  idea  of  taking  it,  for  that 
stimulated  consciousness,  that  huge  vivid  sense 
of  happiness,  which  already  seemed  to  him  the 
proper  normal  level  of  life.  Already,  too,  he  was 
beginning  to  be  dishonest  with  himself,  just  as 
yesterday  he  had  been  dishonest  with  Maud ;  and 
even  as  he  took  it  he  told  himself  that  he  would 
not  have  done  so  had  not  Mr.  Cochran  been 
dining  with  them.  It  was  impossible  to  send  him 
away  five  minutes  after  dinner:  it  was  equally 
impossible  that  he  should  spend  the  evening 
alone  with  Maud.  And  though  that  was  true,  it 
was  not  the  essential  truth. 

He  took  the  glass  in  his  hand,  wishing,  now 
that  relief  was  so  near,  even  as  the  caged  beast 


82      THE    HOUSE    OF    DEFENCE 

that  has  been  roaring  for  its  food  sits  snarling 
when  it  has  it,  before  it  begins  to  assuage  its 
hunger-pangs,  to  prolong  for  a  moment  more 
this  stabbing  pain,  and  the  anticipation  of  its 
ceasing,  and  he  sat  down  in  an  easy-chair,  put- 
ting up  his  feet  on  another,  to  make  himself  quite 
comfortable,  before  he  drank  it.  His  room  looked 
northwest,  and  though  it  was  nearly  nine  o'clock, 
the  sun  in  this  northern  latitude  still  shone  in  at 
his  window,  bathing  him  in  its  crystal  light. 
Then  he  drank. 

Inside  his  head  during  this  last  hour  he  felt  as 
if  a  sort  of  piston-rod  had  been  making  regular 
firm  strokes  on  to  some  bleeding  mangled  nerve. 
The  end  of  the  piston  rod  was  sometimes  fitted 
with  a  blunt  hammer,  so  that  it  squashed  the  seat 
of  pain,  sometimes  with  a  sharp  needle-point  that 
went  deeper  and  seemed  to  penetrate  and  reach 
the  very  centre  of  his  being.  Then  perhaps  the 
piston-rod  would  cease  for  awhile,  and  an  iron- 
toothed  rusty  rake  collected  the  smashed  frag- 
ments of  nerve  together  again,  so  that  the  ham- 
mer should  not  leave  any  of  the  scattered  pieces 
unpulverized,  and  the  rake  made  a  neat  pile  of 
the  raw  tortured  bits,  so  that  they  might  receive 
the  blows  of  the  blunt  hammer  again.  This  rak- 
ing back  (the  image  was  so  vivid  to  him  that  he 
almost  believed  it  actually  occurred)  was  about 
the  worst  part:  he  knew  that  the  steady  squash- 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      83 

ing  hammer  was  coming  on  again.  But  now,  a  few 
minutes  only  after  he  had  taken  his  dose,  though 
the  hammer  did  not  cease  to  fall,  its  blows  ceased 
to  produce  pain;  they  produced  instead  a  warm, 
tingling  sensation  like  that  which  one  feels  when 
one  spreads  out  icy  fingers  to  a  friendly  blaze. 
And  that  tingling  warmth  spread  slowly  through 
his  head,  passed  down  his  neck,  and  flooded  his 
body  and  limbs  to  toe  and  finger-tip.  He  forgot 
what  pain  meant,  knowing  only  what  the  oncom- 
ing of  this  absolute  physical  bliss  was  like.  The 
sun  that  still  shone  in  at  his  windows  burned 
with  a  ruddier  and  more  vivid  light,  the  glory  of 
it  was  soft  but  incredibly  brilliant,  and  to  his 
quickened  sense  of  smell  the  air  that  came  in 
through  the  open  windows  was  redolent  with  the 
honey-scent  of  warm  heather.  The  blind  had 
been  a  little  drawn  down  over  the  top  of  the  win- 
dow— the  tap  of  it  flapping  against  the  jamb — but 
whereas,  when  he  was  dressing  for  dinner  an  hour 
ago  it  was  a  fretting  and  irritating  thing,  it 
now  seemed  to  him  to  give  out  flute-like  vibrating 
notes.  The  present  moment,  his  own  sensations 
were  all  quickened  to  the  vividness  of  dream-life, 
while  it  was  but  vaguely  that  he  remembered 
that  downstairs  Maud  was  sitting  with  a  very 
pleasant  American  fellow  who  had  come  to  din- 
ner ;  but  with  the  gates  of  Paradise  here  upstairs 
flung  wide  to  receive  him  he  could  not  fix  his 


84       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

mind  on  him  sufficiently  to  recall  much  about 
him.  No  doubt  if  he  made  an  effort  he  could  re- 
member what  he  was  like  and  what  his  name  was, 
but  an  effort  was  the  one  thing  he  certainly 
would  not  make,  since  it  might  destroy  or  dis- 
turb this  perfect  equilibrium  on  which  he  was 
balanced.  Besides,  there  was  really  no  reason, 
so  it  now  appeared,  why  he  should  go  downstairs. 
Maud  and  her  friend  would  talk  about  fishing  for 
awhile  and  then  he — ah,  yes,  Walter  Cochran — 
would  go  away.  They  would  both  easily  under- 
stand his  non-appearance.  He  had  suffered  tor- 
tures; it  was  absurd  not  to  grant  him  this  little 
compensation. 

Then  for  a  moment  the  habit  and  breeding  of 
his  whole  life  jerked  him  to  his  feet,  in  order  to 
rejoin  them.  But  the  drug  he  had  taken  was 
more  powerful  than  they:  it  told  him  that  this 
ecstasy  of  consciousness  would  be  trespassed  on 
and  interfered  with  by  the  presence  of  others. 
He  would  have,  to  some  extent,  to  attend  to  them 
instead  of  being  absorbed  in  the  exquisiteness  of 
his  own  sensations.  And  those  sensations  had 
nothing  whatever  in  common  with  either  sleep 
or  intoxication :  he  was  lifted  on  to  a  higher  level 
of  perception  than  the  normal:  he  basked  in 
super-solar  sunlight. 

Then,  still  without  any  hint  of  sleepiness  or 
loss  of  consciousness,  the  most  wonderful  visions, 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      85 

or  rather  the  intentional  visualization  of  mag- 
ically beautiful  scenes,  passed  in  front  of  him.. 
He,  like  Keats,  was  listening  to  the  nightingale, 
and  losing  himself  in  "  embalmed  darkness  "  to 
the  music  of  the  song,  while  all  the  "  weariness, 
the  fever  and  the  fret  "  were  remembered  only 
as  the  traveller  arrived  at  his  long-sought  home 
remembers  the  weariness  of  the  way.  He 
mounted  higher  than  the  blithe  spirit  of  the  lark 
could  carry  him,  and  hung  in  ether  so  remote 
that  the  sun  above  him  and  the  earth  below 
seemed  of  about  equal  size,  and  the  shape  of 
England  and  the  coasts  of  Europe  appeared  set 
in  dim  sea  as  in  an  atlas.  Then  he  turned  his 
eyes  away  from  the  earth  and  looked  unblinded 
into  the  high  noon  of  the  heavens ;  and  yet,  though 
it  was  noon,  the  infinite  vault  of  blue  was  sown 
with  stars.  Sun  and  stars  shone  there  togetherr 
and  a  slip  of  crescent  moon  floated  very  near  at 
hand. 

Again,  still  vividly  awake  and  without  the 
least  hint  of  drowsiness,  the  stars  became  glob- 
ules of  sparkling  dew,  and  the  spaces  of  ether 
took  shape,  until  about  him  that  which  had  been 
the  heavens  was  transformed  into  a  huge  bed  of 
blue  acanthus  leaves  on  which  the  dew  of  stars 
was  sparkling.  The  sun  was  still  there,  and 
round  it  the  sky  took  the  shape  of  petals  of  a 
flower,  and  it,  as  Browning  had  said,  was  the 


86       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

" centre  spike  of  gold"  in  an  immense  blue  blos- 
som. All  this,  too,  this  vision  to  which  sun  and 
stars  contributed,  was  his  own,  born  of  the  brain 
which  so  short  a  time  ago  had  been  stabbed  and 
pierced  with  horrible  tortures.  But,  indeed,  that 
torture  was  worth  experiencing,  if  by  the  aid  of 
a  little  brown  draught  he  reaped  this  great  com- 
pensation. The  machinery  of  the  universe  was 
subservient  to  his  brain  now,  the  stars  made 
drops  of  dew  on  the  acanthus  leaves  of  infinite 
space,  and  the  sun  burned  as  the  centre  of  one 
unique  flower.  A  few  minutes  ago  he  had  half- 
started  to  go  downstairs:  now  the  ravings  of 
some  lunatic  in  bedlam  were  not  more  distant 
from  his  mind  than  that  thought.  He  was  lost 
in  the  contemplation  of  things  as  the  mind  of 
man  can  make  them.  This  was  the  real  world,  a 
world  so  easily  entered,  while  the  material  world 
was  a  vague,  pale  dream  compared  to  this  vivid 
waking  reality. 

Meanwhile,  below,  Walter  Cochran  and  Maud 
had  for  ten  minutes  talked  unmitigated  fishing; 
but  Maud,  though  to  talk  fishing  was  in  the  gen- 
eral way  one  of  the  most  enthralling  methods  of 
conversation,  was  giving  lip-service  only,  for  in- 
wardly she  regretted  the  finality  of  those  few 
little  frozen  words  about  Thurso  with  which  she 
had  so  effectually  dismissed  the  subject  of  Chris- 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       87 

tian  Science  and  all  they  had  talked  about  by  the 
river.  For  very  shame  or  pride — the  two  so  ver- 
bally opposed  are  often  really  identical — she 
could  not  go  back  again  to  the  subject  she  had 
so  unmistakably  snuffed  out,  while  he,  in  his 
confessed  dislike  of  preaching,  was  equally  un- 
likely to  lead  the  subject  back  again.  But  he  had 
said  that  though  he  disliked  preaching,  he  loved 
practice,  and  she  had  leaned  forward  over  the 
table,  her  pride  in  her  pocket,  to  ask  a  question 
about  this,  when  an  interruption  came:  one  of 
the  nurses  entered. 

"I'm  sorry  to  disturb  you,  my  lady,"  she  said, 
"but  I  am  sure  Dr.  Symes  ought  to  be  sent  for. 
Sandy  Mackenzie  had  high  fever  an  hour  ago,  but 
I  didn't  like  his  looks,  and  I  have  just  taken  his 
temperature  again.  It  is  below  normal,  and  that 
is  the  worst  that  can  happen,  suddenly  like  this. 
Dr.  Symes  ought  to  be  sent  for  immediately,  and 
I  didn  't  know  who  to  apply  to. ' ' 

Maud  got  up. 

"  You  did  quite  right  to  come  to  me,  nurse," 
she  said.  "  I  will  send  for  him  at  once.  It  is 
very  serious." 

"  Yes,  my  lady,  it  means  perforation,"  she 
said. 

Maud  nodded. 

"  I  will  do  everything,"  she  said.  "  Thank 
you,  nurse." 


88       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

The  nurse  left  the  room,  but  Maud  did  not 
move  at  once,  for  all  that  she  had  mused  about 
by  the  river  yesterday  came  back  to  her  mind 
with  the  vividness  and  instantaneousness  of 
lightning.  Only  yesterday  she  had  heard  Mr. 
Cochran  tell  Duncan  that  his  wife  was  better,  and 
though  she  had  been  ill  almost  beyond  hope  of 
recovery,  yet  all  that  day  and  all  to-day  she  had 
swiftly  and  steadily  been  mending.  Thurso  was 
upstairs,  too:  the  opportunity  she  had  desired 
was  completely  given  her.  And  half-way  across 
the  room  to  the  bell  she  stopped.  It  seemed  al- 
most as  if  Mr.  Cochran  had  expected  this,  for  he 
had  wheeled  round  in  his  chair,  and  when  she 
.stopped  he  was  facing  her,  quiet,  cheerful,  with 
those  strong,  childlike  eyes. 

"  Mr.  Cochran,"  she  began. 

She  took  a  step  closer  to  him. 

11  I  don't  know  whether  I  am  right  to  ask  you 
this,"  she  said,  "  but,  to  begin  with,  if  it  is  what 
the  nurse  thinks,  it  is  quite  useless  to  send  for  Dr. 
Symes.  But  I  don't  ask  you  in  the  spirit  of  de- 
rision or  of  curiosity,  for  a  life  is  at  stake.  Will 
you  go  to  poor  Sandy  and  make  him  well?  If 
you  say  '  no,'  I  shall  quite  understand  that  you 
feel,  somehow,  honestly  I  am  sure,  that  it  is  not 
right  for  you  to  do  so.  But  I  ask  you !  ' 

"  Why,  certainly  I  will,"  he  said.  "  But  if  I 
am  to  make  him  better,  you  mustn't,  while  I  am 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      89 

doing  so,  whether  you  think  he  is  coming  round 
or  not,  send  for  the  doctor.  There  must  be  none 
of  that.  I  will  go  to  him  if  you  wish,  but  then 
the  case  is  in  my  hands :  ah,  not  mine,  but  in  the 
hands  of  Divine  Love.  It  may  take  some  hours; 
I  don't  yet  know  how  far  he  has  encouraged 
error,  how  thick  a  darkness  he  has  made  round 
him.  But  if  you  ask  me  to  make  him  well,  be- 
lieving that  I  can,  I  will  do  so.  But  you  must 
trust  me  completely.  You  mustn't  ask  it  only  to 
see  if  I  can." 

Maud  went  through  a  long  moment  of  dread- 
ful indecision.  She  knew  she  was  taking  an  aw- 
ful responsibility  on  herself,  for  though,  if  the 
nurse  was  right,  Sandy  was  beyond  human  power, 
yet  it  was  a  serious  thing  she  was  doing.  And 
as  she  hesitated  he  spoke  again,  still  quite  quietly, 
quite  cheerfully. 

"  Don't  hesitate,"  he  said.  "  Your  choice  is 
quite  simple.  You  choose  the  direct  power  of 
God  to  make  Sandy  well,  or  you  reject  it.  Don't 
think  for  a  moment  that  it  is  I  who  can  make  him 
well.  By  myself  I  can  do  as  little  as  the  doctor. 
So  choose,  Lady  Maud." 

She  hesitated  no  longer. 

"  Please  go  to  him,"  she  said,  "  and,  oh,  be 
quick. ' ' 

The  human  cry  sounded  there:  she  was  terri- 
fied at  her  choice.  And  this  stranger,  whom  she 


90       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

had  seen  yesterday  for  the  first  time,  soothed  her 
like  a  child. 

"  Don't  be  frightened,"  he  said.  "  You  have 
chosen  rightly,  of  course,  but  I  know  the  flesh  is 
weak.  Or  rather  our  faith  is  weak,  while  our 
flesh  is  strong;  it  binds  and  controls  one  against 
one's  true  will.  Let  me  be  silent  a  minute." 

He  moved  his  chair  round  again  to  the  table 
where  they  had  dined,  made  a  backward  sweep 
of  his  hand,  to  clear  a  small  space,  and  leaned 
his  head  on  his  hands,  clasping  his  fingers  over 
Ms  eyes  to  shut  out  all  material  things,  and 
brought  his  whole  mind  home  to  the  one  great 
fact  that  he  believed,  the  Presence,  the  Omnipo- 
tence, the  love  of  God.  From  fishing,  from  all 
the  ordinary  preoccupation  of  life,  from  Thurso, 
from  Maud  herself,  he  called  his  winged  thoughts 
home,  and  they  settled  in  his  soul  like  homing 
doves.  For  a  minute  or  two  he  remained  motion- 
less. Then  he  got  up,  and  his  face,  ordinarily  so 
cheerful  and  content,  was  brimming  over  with 
happiness  so  that  he  almost  laughed. 

"  Come  up  with  me,  Lady  Maud,"  he  said, 
"  since  you  have  asked  me  this  in  sincerity.  I 
should  like  you  to  see  it  since  you  are  ready  to 
believe.  Like  the  Israelites  you  shall  stand  still 
and  see  the  salvation  of  God." 

Maud  did  not  hesitate  now. 

"  Yes,  I  will  come,"  she  said. 


The  whole  house,  except  the  few  rooms  which 
Thurso  and  she  and  their  few  servants  used,  had 
been  transformed  into  an  hospital,  and  Sandy's 
bed  was  in  the  little  serving-room  outside  the 
dining-room.  There  was  space  there  for  only 
one  bed,  and  the  two  under  guidance  of  the 
nurse  passed  through  into  it.  Then  Mr.  Cochran 
turned  to  her. 

11  We  will  be  alone  here,  Lady  Maud  and  I," 
he  said.  "  Thank  you  so  much  for  showing  us." 

She  went  out  again  into  the  big  dining-room, 
where  some  twenty  beds  had  been  put.  Lady 
Maud  had  said  she  would  make  all  arrangements 
for  sending  for  Dr.  Symes,  and  till  he  came  noth- 
ing could  be  done  for  Sandy,  while  there  was 
busy  occupation  for  her  all  night  long  probably 
with  her  other  patients.  She  wondered  for  a 
moment  who  this  strong,  cheerful  young  man 
was,  who  had  said  with  such  assurance  that  he 
and  Lady  Maud  would  be  alone  with  Sandy,  that 
it  never  entered  her  head  to  question  it :  she  won- 
dered also,  though  again  only  momentarily,  why 
Lady  Maud  had  come  up  with  him.  Then  since 
her  hands  were  full  with  the  needs  of  her  other 
patients,  she  dismissed  the  thought  of  Sandy  until 
the  doctor's  arrival. 

Maud  had  never  yet  in  her  life  seen  any  to 


92       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

whom  that  great ' '  White  Presence  ' '  which  we  call 
Death  has  drawn  near,  but  now  when  she  looked 
at  this  bed  and  the  face  of  the  man  who  lay  in  it 
she  knew  that  the  supreme  moment  was  nearly 
come.  Sandy,  the  gillie,  she  had  known  so  well, 
with  whom  she  had  passed  so  many  sunny  and 
pleasant  days  on  the  moor  or  by  the  river,  was 
barely  recognizable:  a  white  pallid  mask  with 
skin  drawn  tight  over  the  bones  of  the  face  so  that 
it  was  scarcely  human,  was  all  that  was  left  of 
him.  Both  upper  and  lower  lips,  already  growing 
bluish  in  tinge,  were  drawn  back  so  that  in  both 
jaws  his  teeth  were  exposed,  and  his  eyes,  bright 
and  dry,  looked  piteously  this  way  and  that,  and 
the  soul,  frightened  at  this  dark  and  lonely  jour- 
ney on  which  none  could  be  its  companion,  sought 
for  comfort  and  reassurement,  but  found  them 
not.  It  was  not  the  delirium  of  fever  that  made 
those  eyes  so  bright;  it  was  fear  and  dumb  ap- 
peal. His  hands,  thin  and  white,  lay  outside  the 
coverlet,  and  they,  too,  were  active,  picking  at  it. 

Cochran  had  seen  that  before  and  knew  what 
it  meant,  and  he  quickly  pulled  a  chair  close  to  the 
bedside,  leaving  Maud  standing. 

Maud  looked  from  that  mask  on  the  pillow  to 
the  man  who  sat  by  the  bed,  and  if  the  one  face 
was  dark  with  the  shadow  of  death  that  already 
lay  over  it,  the  other  was  all  lit  and  illumined 
with  life  and  the  thought  that  inspired  the  words. 


'You  are  better  already,  you  know,  Sandy,"  he  said.    Chapter  III. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE       93 

Yet  though  the  evening  was  cool  the  beads  of 
perspiration  already  stood  on  his  forehead.  Then 
Cochran  closed  his  eyes  from  the  glassy,  tortured 
face  of  his  patient  and  said  quietly  and  earnestly, 
' '  God  loves  you  and  will  heal  you,  Sandy,  do  not 
fear.  He  is  the  strength  and  the  rock  of  your  de- 
fence now.  You  do  not  need  to  suffer."  Then 
sitting  down  he  began  his  silent  prayer.  Without 
once  raising  his  eyes  for  nearly  an  hour,  Cochran 
knew  silently  and  confidently  that  Life  is  God  and 
cannot  be  destroyed. 

Sandy  soon  began  to  sleep  in  a  quiet,  gentle 
way,  and  after  watching  him  for  a  few  minutes  in 
silence,  Cochran  slowly  repeated  the  91st  psalm 
aloud. 

To  Maud  this  new  understanding  of  God  and 
Life  filled  her  with  surprise  and  wonderment.  As 
she  watched  Sandy  pass  from  his  delirium  into 
a  sweet  sleep,  hope  filled  her  with  the  buoyant 
thought  that  this  prayer  was  being  answered  now, 
and  that  the  last  enemy  had  been  met  and  de- 
stroyed. 

Cochran  got  up  without  another  word,  and  in 
silence  they  left  the  room.  At  the  door  Maud 
looked  back.  Sandy  was  lying  quite  quiet  with 
closed  eyes  and  mouth  just  slightly  parted. 

The  nurse  was  moving  about  from  bed  to  bed 
in  the  big  ward,  and  as  they  went  through  Maud 
stopped  to  speak  to  her. 


94       THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

"  Sandy  is  ever  so  much  better,"  she  said. 
"  He  has  gone  to  sleep,  I  think.  You  won't  dis- 
turb him  again  to-night,  will  you!  " 

' '  Not  till  Dr.  Symes  comes,  my  lady, ' '  she  said, 
11  if  he  keeps  quiet.  There  is  nothing  to  be  done 
by  disturbing  him." 

Cochran  was  standing  by,  and  it  seemed  to 
Maud  as  if  it  was  her  duty  to  bear  witness  here 
and  now  to  what  she  had  seen,  to  what  she  be- 
lieved. 

"  There  is  no  need  for  Dr.  Symes  to  come  at 
all,"  she  said.  "  Sandy  is  getting  well.  I  have 
not  sent  for  him,  and  I  shall  not. ' ' 

The  nurse  stared  at  her  a  moment  in  silence, 
then  went  swiftly  to  the  door  of  the  room  where 
Sandy  lay,  opened  it  and  looked  in.  After  a  mo- 
ment she  came  out  again,  and  closed  it  softly  be- 
hind her. 

11  Why,  he's  getting  some  natural  sleep!  "  she 
said,  "  and  he  hasn't  slept  for  the  last  three 
nights.  Of  course,  I  won't  disturb  him.  Yet  his 
temperature  came  down  to  below  normal  from 
high  fever  in  a  couple  of  hours.  Or  could  I  have 
made  a  mistake?  ' 

Cochran  smiled  at  her. 

11  Yes,  nurse,  I  think  there  has  been  a  mistake 
somewhere,"  he  said,  "  but  it  is  all  right  now, 

j 

isn't   it?     Good-night.     Sandy   won't   wake   for 
twelve  hours  or  more,  I  think." 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE       95 

The  two  went  downstairs  again.  Thurso  was 
still  up  in  his  bedroom,  and  they  stood  for  a  long 
moment  in  silence.  Then  Maud  suddenly  looked 
up  at  Cochran. 

"  I  don't  understand,"  she  said. 

"  You  did  just  now,"  he  said,  "  when  you  told 
Sandy  the  Truth  was  making  him  well.  It's  just 
the  simplest  and  truest  thing  in  the  world.  But 
I'll  go  now,  Lady  Maud.  I've — I've  got  more  to 
do." 

Maud  felt  fearfully  excited:  all  her  emotions, 
all  her  beliefs  and  aspirations,  had  been  strung 
up  to  their  highest  by  what  she  had  seen.  Noth- 
ing seemed  to  her  impossible  at  the  moment. 

"  Ah,  make  them  all  well,"  she  cried.  "  Stop 
this  dreadful  false  idea  of  suffering  and  illness, 
since  you  say  it  is  false." 

He  made  a  gesture  of  dissent  which  she  under- 
stood. 

"  No,  I  don't  mean  that  you  can  stop  it  your- 
self," she  said,  "  but,  oh,  can't  you  get  God  to 
make  them  all  know  what  Sandy  knows  now?  " 

He  put  out  his  hand  to  her. 

"  Don't  you  think  that  He  is  doing  that?  "  he 
asked.  "  You  see  there  has  been  no  fresh  case 
for  two  days." 

"  You  mean  it  is  stopping?  "  she  asked. 

"  Oh,  yes,  of  course  it  is!  Good-night,  Lady 
Maud." 


CHAPTER   IV 

IT  was  June,  but  no  Londoner  could  possibly 
have  guessed  it,  because  instead  of  the  tempera- 
ture being  absolutely  arctic,  it  was  extremely 
warm,  a  condition  of  things  which  we  do  not  in 
England  associate  with  June. 

The  haze  of  heat  which  made  a  plum  of  Picca- 
dilly, which  the  London  County  Council,  after 
their  instructive  visit  to  Paris,  had  widened  at 
least  six  inches,  at  enormous  expense,  dealed  still 
more  magically,  having  better  material  to  work 
upon,  with  St.  James's  Park,  as  seen  from  the 
windows  of  Thurso  House,  and  also  with  Thurso 
House  and  its  windows  as  seen  from  St.  James's. 
For  it  was  a  house  that  looked  as  if  it  had  been 
taken  straight  off  the  Grand  Canal  at  Venice, 
with  its  stately  white  walls,  its  rows  of  long  win- 
dows and  its  noble  proportions.  In  front  of  the 
dining-room  a  huge  terrace  built  above  the  offices 
thrust  out  its  broad,  square  front  on  to  the  edge 
of  the  Park  itself,  so  that  the  roadway  of  the 
Mall  was  invisible  to  anybody  sitting  underneath 
the  big  awnings  that  flapped  gently  in  the  warm 
wind,  and  the  eye  looked  straight  across  to  the 
hazy  green  of  the  grass  and  trees  and  the  shim- 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE       97 

mering  surface  of  the  lake,  where  ridiculous  peli- 
cans and  sea-gulls  bickered  and  screeched  over 
the  fragments  of  bread  and  biscuit  thrown  them 
by  the  animal-loving  Londoner  as  he  passed  over 
the  bridge  from  and  toward  Queen  Anne's  Gate. 
On  the  other  side,  the  dining-room  and  the  big 
drawing-room  above  it  looked  out  over  the  pri- 
vate gardens,  and  beyond  a  screen  of  lilacs,  over 
the  Green  Park,  so  that  the  house  was  planted, 
even  though  the  whole  metropolis  hummed  and 
clattered  round  it,  in  the  centre  of  green  and 
growing  things. 

The  dining-room  was  at  the  corner  of  the  house 
commanding  both  parks,  and  to-day  the  windows 
were  open  on  both  sides,  so  that  the  lace  curtains 
swayed  and  bulged  in  the  wind,  while  the  bour- 
don note  of  the  busy  sunny  town  came  in  like  the 
sound  of  great  bees  burrowing  in  golden  flowers. 
The  room  itself  was  parquetted  in  oak  and  wal- 
nut, and  was  left  bare,  as  befitted  these  summer 
months,  except  for  some  half-dozen  of  silk  Per- 
sian rugs  that  made  shimmering  islands  on  the 
sea  of  its  shining  surface.  The  two  walls  which 
faced  the  Park  were,  to  tell  the  truth,  rather  win- 
dow than  wall,  and  eight  lights  on  the  longer 
wall  and  four  on  the  shorter  made  other  adorn- 
ment, except  for  the  brocaded  curtains  looped 
back  to  allow  the  greatest  manageable  ingress  of 
light  and  air,  impossible,  but  the  other  two  walls 


98       THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

glowed  with  the  portraits  of  bygone  Strattons. 
The  first  Marquis  of  Thurso  was  there,  a  por- 
trait in  peer's  robes  by  Reynolds,  who  also  had 
done  the  picture  of  his  wife  and  the  great  family 
group  of  them  with  their  two  young  sons  that 
hung  over  the  Italian  chimney-piece;  the  second 
Marquis,  the  eldest  boy  in  the  family  group,  was 
there-,  too,  grown  to  man's  estate  and  painted  by 
Gainsborough;  the  picture  of  his  wife  was  a 
Eomney,  while  Lawrence  was  the  artist  for  the 
third  generation.  Then  after  a  long  gap  of  years 
came  the  present  Thurso  and  his  wife,  two  bril- 
liant canvases  claiming  kinship  by  right  of  their 
exquisite  art  with  the  earlier  portraits. 

Otherwise,  for  nothing  could  spoil  these  glori- 
ous decorations  of  the  walls,  or  the  more  smoul- 
dering brilliance  of  the  moulded  ceiling,  the  room 
did  not  at  this  moment  appear  to  advantage,  for 
its  floor  was  occupied  by  a  multitude  of  small 
round  tables  in  preparation  for  the  ball  that  was 
to  take  place  to-night,  and  at  the  end  in  front  of 
the  chimney-piece  was  a  long,  narrow  table  for 
the  very  elect.  These  were  to  be  very  elect,  in- 
deed, and  heaps  of  stars  and  garters  and  ambas- 
sadors would  not  find  a  place  there  to-night,  but 
be  relegated  to  round  tables.  In  any  case,  how- 
ever, everybody  was  going  to  have  proper  things 
to  eat  and  drink,  which  should  be  presented  to 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      99 

their  notice  in  decent  fashion.  There  was  to  be 
no  buffet  supper,  where,  as  at  a  railway  station, 
Lady  Thurso's  guests  would  scramble  for  sand- 
wiches and  pale  yellow  drinks  with  mint  and 
anise  and  cummin  floating  about  in  them,  among 
footmen  who  jogged  their  elbows  with  plates  of 
strawberries,  while  the  elect,  Olympian-wise,  re- 
freshed themselves  behind  closed  doors.  To- 
night, in  fact,  Thurso  House  was  to  be  reopened 
with  a  proper  regard  for  its  stateliness  and  the 
huge  hospitality  that  it  ought  to  exercise,  after 
a  period,  so  to  speak,  of  ten  lean  years  in  which 
the  late  lord  had  lived  alone  here  with  half  the 
rooms  closed,  a  secret  and  eccentric  life.  He  had 
not  even  been  wicked,  and  held  infamous  revels 
here;  he  had  only  been  morose  and  shut  himself 
up  miser-like,  and  not  entertained  anybody.  He 
had  died  just  a  year  ago,  and  to-night  the  house 
was  going  to  be  re-launched.  Lady  Thurso 
would  almost  have  liked  to  re-christen  it,  too; 
it  was  associated  in  her  mind,  and  in  the  mind 
of  everybody  else,  with  such  a  very  disagreeable 
old  gentleman. 

But  Lady  Thurso,  during  these  ten  lean  years 
in  which  she  and  her  husband  had  "  pigged 
along,"  as  she  expressed  it,  in  a  pokey  little 
house  in  Grosvenor  Square,  owing  to  the  tight- 
ness of  the  purse-strings,  had  been  far  from  idle 


100     THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

in  her  preparation  for  the  time  when  she  would 
be  installed  here.  No  one  had  a  greater  contempt 
than  she  for  the  modern  hostess  who  makes  use 
of  her  time  and  money  only  to  give  expensive 
entertainments  and  to  appear  at  them  when  they 
are  given  by  her  friends.  She  had  seen  during 
these  ten  years  the  invasion  of  London  by  those 
whose  sole  invasive  power  was  money  and  their 
willingness  to  spend  it  to  any  extent  in  order  to 
be  considered  what  is  called  "  smart,"  and  she 
entirely  disagreed  with  those  conservative  and 
old-fashioned  moralists  who  shook  their  heads 
over  the  capitulation  of  London  to  the  almighty 
dollar.  London — all  London  that  was  worth  any- 
thing, that  is  to  say — had  not  in  the  least  capitu- 
lated to  the  almighty  dollar,  and  those — there 
were  many  of  them — who  thought  that  they  were 
making  a  great  splash  in  the  world  merely  be- 
cause they  were  rich  and  willing  to  spend  their 
money  on  bands,  prima  donnas,  and  things  to  eat 
and  drink,  made  a  great  mistake.  They  never 
got  anywhere  really:  they  never  got  intime  with 
the  society  they  coveted.  They  thought  they 
were  founding  centres  of  smartness.  As  a  mat- 
ier  of  fact,  they  were  only  turning  their  houses 
into  free  restaurants  for  the  wealthy  unem- 
ployed, to  which,  with  ordinary  common-sense, 
the  world  went  to  be  fed.  There  were,  of  course, 
Bothers,  who  had  something  else  to  back  their 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      101 

spending  capacity,  people  who  were  witty,  agree- 
able, with  the  power  to  charm.  Certainly  their 
wealth  helped  such  of  those  who  yearned  for 
social  success,  but  it  was  not  their  wealth  that 
made  it  for  them,  but  their  wit.  People  would 
always  come  to  be  fed,  if  the  food  was  decent: 
then  they  "  wiped  their  mouths  and  went  their 
journey,"  while  their  poor,  self-deceived  host- 
esses thought  that  they  were  going  hand  after 
hand  up  the  ladder.  Lily  Thurso — being  by  birth 
half  American — was  a  compatriot  of  many  of 
these,  and  her  pretty  little  nose,  slightly  tip- 
tilted,  instinctively  went  in  the  air  when  she 
thought  of  them.  You  could  not  get  on  or  really 
become  of  any  importance  merely  by  spending 
money.  In  New  York  you  could,  and  her  com- 
patriots she  thought  lacked  a  proper  sense  of 
moral  geography.  Wealth  in  London  brought 
to  your  house  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Not-quite-in-it,  in 
shoals,  but  that  was  all.  Or  if  you  flew  a  little 
higher  in  the  way  of  mere  intelligence,  eatable 
dinners  would  bring  to  your  house  the  keepers 
of  the  smaller  national  collections,  plump  little 
gentlemen,  for  the  most  part,  of  harmless  but  in- 
significant nature,  who  seethed  with  second-rate 
and  unreliable  information  both  about  the  world 
and  about  their  art,  and  discovered  second-rate 
Titians  and  things.  All  that  was  second-rate,  in 


102      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

fact,  could  easily  be  secured  by  money,  but  noth- 
ing else. 

At  this  moment  she  was  sitting  with  Jim  Strat- 
ton,  her  husband's  younger  brother,  and  Ruby 
Majendie,  who,  she  hoped,  was  going  to  persuade 
Jim  to  marry  her,  for  the  sake  of  the  happiness 
of  them  both,  having  lunch  at  one  of  those  little 
round  tables,  in  order  to  see  how  the  room  looked, 
and  that  while  they  ate,  since  hours  were  pre- 
cious, Euby  and  she  could  direct  the  efforts  of 
those  who  were  putting  down  carpets,  bringing 
in  flowers,  and  decorating  tables.  Lady  Thurso 
had  just  given  orders  that  all  the  hydrangeas, 
of  which  a  perfect  copse  had  been  made  at  the 
far  end  of  the  room,  should  be  taken  away  again, 
for  really  the  Italian  fireplace  was  much  more 
decorative  than  these  blue-blossomed  shrubs. 

"  Besides,  hydrangeas  always  remind  me  of 
Mr.  Turner  James,"  she  said  in  parenthesis. 

"  And  what's  that?  "  asked  Jim. 

"  Oh,  it's  a  little  art  gentleman;  of  course  you 
know  him,  because  he  is  always  the  one  person 
there  when  one  lunches  or  dines  out  whom  one 
doesn't  know.  He  looks  as  if  he  was  grown  in 
a  pot  in  a  moderately  warm  hothouse.  I  don't 
know  why  I  thought  of  him  at  this  moment — oh, 
yes,  because  of  the  hydrangeas.  You  know  when 
hydrangeas  begin  to  get  stout —  Yes,  take  them 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      103 

all  away,"  she  called  out  to  the  florist,  who  still 
appeared  to  want  to  leave  the  "  choicest  "  in  the 
grate. 

The  "  choicest  "  were  therefore  removed  also, 
and  while  this  was  being  done,  they  could  talk  of 
other  things. 

Lady  Thurso,  inheriting  the  American  love  of 
doing  something  which  had  never  been  done  be- 
fore, a  thing  which  leads  to  failure  in  a  dozen 
cases  and  to  brilliant  success  in  the  lucky  thir- 
teenth, had  never  been  better  inspired,  for  the 
staircase,  otherwise  a  rather  heavy  and  not  very 
admirable  feature  in  the  house,  had  been  glori- 
ously transformed  by  this  feathery  and  rustic 
decoration.  But  poor  Mr.  Hopkinson's  ignorance 
of  what  wild  flowers  were,  had  been  capped  by 
his  ignorance  of  how  wild  flowers  grew,  and  he 
had  begun  to  arrange  the  poor  dears  in  neat  rows, 
as  in  a  riband  bed.  Consequently  he  and  his  as- 
sistant florists  had,  about  twelve  thirty  that  day, 
to  begin  all  over  again,  and  under  Lady  Thurso 's 
direct  and  mordant  supervision,  had  first  "  made 
a  salad  "  of  these  fragrant  hampers  of  flowers 
and  grasses,  and  then  stuck  them  properly,  that 
is  to  say,  at  random,  into  the  trays  of  moist  clay 
that  lined  each  side  of  the  stairway,  and  would 
keep  them  alive  and  bright-eyed  till  morning. 
And  as  soon  as  lunch  was  over,  she  went  out  to 
see  if  poor  Mr.  Hopkinson  had  at  length  under- 


104      THE    HOUSE   OP   DEFENCE 

stood.  He  had :  the  staircase  was  a  country  lane, 
exactly  as  she  had  visualized  it.  And  somehow 
with  this  adaptability  that  was  as  natural  to  her 
as  the  change  of  color  is  to  the  chameleon,  as  she 
stood  below  a  clump  of  flowering  hawthorn,  she 
looked,  for  all  her  "  air  of  the  world  "  and  ex- 
quisite rose-colored  dress,  like  some  visionary 
milkmaid.  But  the  milkmaid  had  the  critical  eye, 
and  she  looked  very  slowly  and  carefully  up  and 
down  this  delicious  hayfield  vista. 

"  More  buttercups  there,"  she  said,  pointing  to 
the  place,  "  and  one  big  bough  of  hawthorn  at 
that  corner." 

She  waited,  sitting  down  on  the  top  step  with 
Euby  till  this  was  done.  Then  eagerly,  though 
carefully,  she  looked  at  it  again. 

"  Yes,  that  will  do,"  she  said.  "But  I  only 
hope  it  won't  give  Thurso  hay-fever.  He  and  I 
will  have  to  stand  at  the  top  of  the  stairs  till  the 
royal  quadrille.  He  and  Maud  get  here  this  after- 
noon. ' ' 

11  And  the  typhoid?  "  asked  Euby. 

11  All  this  last  week  there  has  been  no  further 
case,"  said  she,  "  so  I  hope  it  is  really  all  over. 
I  want  Thurso  to  be  in  town  a  bit  before  the  end 
of  the  season,  otherwise —  I  only  heard  from 
Maud:  she  wrote  chiefly  about  a  Mr.  Cochran,  to 
whom  Thurso  let  the  fishing.  He  is  a  Christian 
Scientist,  and  she  said  she  saw  him  cure  a  bad 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      105 

case.  It  sounds  interesting,  and  Maud  never  ex- 
aggerates. I  think  I  shall  go  in  for  Christian 
Science  next  August." 

"  Why  August?  " 

"  Because  I  haven't  got  time  in  July,  dear. 
Oh,  yes,  Maud  did  not  know  that  the  fishing  was- 
let — so  like  Thurso  not  to  tell  her! — and  was 
caught  by  this  Mr.  Cochran  poaching  on  his  river. 
He  wasn't  annoyed,  it  appears.  Do  you  think  1 
should  never  be  annoyed  if  I  became  a  Christian 
Scientist?  " 

"  I  can't  say;  but  I  hope  you  wouldn't  get  the 
Christian  Science  smile.  It  is  particularly  fatigu- 
ing to  look  at.  Alice  Yardly  has  it:  that  is  why 
I  can't  look  at  her." 

Lady  Thurso  was  still  not  quite  satisfied  with 
her  staircase,  or,  at  any  rate,  she  wanted  to  be 
sure  that  she  was.  So  she  paused  a  moment,  with 
her  head  on  one  side. 

"  Oh,  be  just,  Ruby,"  she  said.  "  Dear  Alice 
was  always  fatiguing,  and  I  don't  know  that  the 
fact  that  she  is  a  Christian  Scientist  now  makes 
her  more  fatiguing.  It  is  true  that  she  seems  to 
smile  with  a  purpose,  but,  if  we  didn't  know,  I 
don't  think  we  should  see  any  difference.  She 
means  to  be  helpful  now,  but  she  is  about  as  help- 
less as  before.  I  think  you  are  uncharitable.  Of 
course  nobody  really  can  help  one:  one  can  only 
help  oneself.  Well,  I  must  go.  I  think  it  is 


106      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

too  charming  of  you  to  stay  and  superintend 
these  stupid  people.  You  won't  let  them  touch 
the  staircase  again,  will  you?  It  is  just  what  I 
meant  it  to  be,  or  so  nearly  so  that  one  is  content 
to  run  no  further  risks.  And  please  throw  all 
gardenias  out  of  the  window  if  they  bring  any, 
just  as  you  threw  all  the  calceolarias  out.  They 
are  what  is  called  so  '  powerful.'  What  a  di- 
vine expression!  I'm  sure  somebody  in  Birming- 
ham must  have  invented  it.  It  is  like  talking  of 
a  carriage-sweep  or  a  soiled  handkerchief." 

Lady  Thurso  would  probably  have  been  very 
much  surprised  if  she  had  been  told  that  she  was 
a  genius,  because  she  had  a  sort  of  idea  that  in 
order  to  be,  or  rather  have  been,  a  genius,  it  was 
necessary  to  live  a  most  unsuccessful  life,  and  to 
die  unnoticed  (until  afterward,  when  it  was  too 
late)  in  a  garret.  But  if  the  stock  definition  of 
genius  was  at  all  correct,  she  had  a  very  reason- 
able claim  to  the  title,  for  her  power  of  taking 
pains  was  really  infinite.  It  made  no  matter  what 
she  was  engaged  on;  whatever  she  did,  she  did 
with  a  transcendent  aim  for  perfection,  and 
whether  it  was  the  decoration  of  her  staircase  or 
the  speech  that  she  had  to  make  at  the  Industrial 
Sale,  she  bestowed  on  it  the  utmost  effort  of  which 
she  was  capable.  She  had  another  gift  also  to 
cap  this,  which,  though  almost  as  rare,  is  almost 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      107 

as  remunerative:  for  when  she  had  bestowed  her 
utmost  pains,  she  could  dismiss  the  subject  from 
her  mind,  and  not  worry  any  more  at  all  about 
it.  Thus  now,  the  moment  that  she  had  left  her 
door,  the  staircase  decoration  ceased  to  exist  in 
her  mind,  and  the  speech  she  was  to  make  in  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  from  now  was  non-existent 
also,  since  this  morning  she  had  thought  it  over, 
written  it  down,  and  said  it  aloud  to  herself  until 
she  was  perfectly  satisfied  that  she  knew  what 
she  wanted  to  say  and  could  say  it.  This  being 
so,  she  could  and  did  devote  herself  as  she  drove 
through  this  blue  June  of  London  to  the  fasci- 
nating pursuit  of  simply  looking  about  her.  She 
was  the  author,  in  point  of  fact,  of  a  mot  that 
had  gone  all  round  London,  to  the  effect  that  by 
driving  for  an  hour  during  the  day,  at  the  right 
time  and  through  the  right  streets,  you  could, 
without  exchanging  a  word  with  anybody,  know 
all  that  had  been  in  the  morning  papers  and  all 
that  would  be  in  the  evening  issues.  In  the  course 
of  such  a  drive  you  could  see  the  leader  of  what 
had  been  the  Opposition  and  was  now  the  Govern- 
ment stepping  into  a  hansom  with  an  elate  but 
anxious  face  at  his  door  in  Belgrave  Square. 
The  hansom  meant  a  sudden  emergency,  and 
surely  the  goal  was  Buckingham  Palace,  and  BO 
the  new  Prime  Minister  was  foreseen.  Again  in 
Chesham  Place  you  could  see  the  Eussian  ambas- 


108      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

sador  stepping  into  his  motor,  with  luggage  on 
the  top.  Clearly,  then,  there  was  some  ameliora- 
tion in  Russian  affairs,  since  he  could  not  leave 
town  if  the  crisis  was  as  critical  as  it  had  been 
yesterday.  The  blinds  were  down  where  A  was 
very  ill,  the  blinds  were  still  up  where  B  was 
supposed  to  be  dying.  Therefore  A  had  thought 
worse  of  it  and  died;  B  had  thought  better  of  it 
and  still  lived.  Then  there  was  a  block  at  Hyde 
Park  corner,  and  the  royal  liveries  flashed  by. 
She  wondered  if  the  new  Prime  Minister  would 
get  to  the  Palace  first. 

For  the  last  two  years  or  so  she  and  her  hus- 
band had  been  very  little  together,  though  they 
both  had  the  sense  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  scan- 
dal in  their  being  so  much  apart,  for  his  short  and 
bitter  summary  of  their  mutual  relations  had  been 
very  near  the  truth :  he  bored  her,  and  she  got  on 
his  nerves.  And  whatever  the  higher  code  of 
ethics  might  have  to  say  on  the  subject,  she  felt 
convinced  that  common-sense  indorsed  the  policy 
that  they  both  pursued,  in  that  they  saw  very  little 
of  each  other.  Never  had  she  admitted,  either  by 
direct  word  or  by  unspoken  implication,  that  he 
bored  her,  and,  to  do  him  justice,  never  had  he 
admitted  except  to  Maud  the  incompatibility  of 
their  matrimonial  association.  If  idle  and  stupid 
tongues  wagged  about  them — she  had  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  they  did — that  was  only  the  con- 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      109 

cern  of  the  idle  and  stupid,  who  might  say  what 
they  pleased.  It  could  not  concern  any  one  vitally 
constituted  what  suburban  minds  said  to  each 
other  when  they  met,  so  to  speak,  in  semi-de- 
tached villas.  Much  as  she  valued  the  world, 
there  were  portions  of  it  that  she  valued  not  at 
all,  and  if  the  fact  that  she  and  Thurso  were  sel- 
dom together  concerned  anybody,  it  only  con- 
cerned people  who  were  entirely  negligible.  Re- 
marks dropped  from  the  garret  into  the  gutter 
could  only  hurt  those  who  happened  to  be  sitting 
in  the  gutter.  What  really  mattered  was  his  com- 
parative happiness  and  hers.  She  did  not  want 
to  be  bored,  he  did  not  want  his  nerves  set  on 
edge  by  her.  She  realized  his  side  of  the  ques- 
tion quite  as  keenly  as  she  realized  her  own,  nor 
did  she  blame  him  because  he  bored  her,  any 
more  than  she  blamed  herself  because  she  made 
him,  as  he  would  have  expressed  it,  "  jumpy." 

Any  one  as  efficient  as  Lady  Thurso  certainly 
was  has  to  march  through  life  without  impendi- 
menta,  and  all  emotional  luggage  which  is  not 
likely  to  ' '  come  in  ' '  must  be  firmly  thrown  away. 
She  had  long  ago  realized  this  and  had  always 
acted  on  it,  so  that  it  was  more  from  force  of  habit 
rather  than  by  any  conscious  effort  that  she  elimi- 
nated from  her  mind  any  emotion  that  was  likely 
to  clog  or  hinder  her  energies.  Worry,  sorrow, 


110      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

regret  for  what  was  irremediable,  she  simply 
threw  away,  as  one  throws  the  envelopes  of 
opened  letters  into  the  waste-paper  basket.  They 
were  of  no  earthly  use,  and  you  did  not  want 
the  drawers  and  compartments  in  your  brain 
crammed  with  rubbish  like  this.  Thus  it  was  but 
very  seldom  that  she  let  her  thoughts  dwell  on 
the  one  great  thing  that  she  had  lacked  all  her 
life.  She  had  never  loved.  Her  marriage  with 
Thurso  had  been  an  excellent,  sensible  arrange- 
ment, and  she  had  done  as  she  was  told  and  had 
accepted  him.  Even  as  a  girl  she  had  wanted  the 
sort  of  position  and  opportunity  that  such  a  mar- 
riage gave  her,  and  she  had  made  the  most  splen- 
did success  of  it.  She  had  done  her  duty,  too,  as 
a  wife,  had  given  him  two  sons,  and  filled  her 
place  superbly.  But  love  had  never  really  come 
to  her;  that,  by  no  fault  of  hers,  had  apparently 
been  left  out  of  her  emotional  possibilities,  and 
since  she  was  convinced  that  that  omission  was 
not  her  fault,  she  did  not  worry  about  it.  But  to- 
day, though  she  did  not  worry,  she  could  not  help 
wondering  about  a  certain  time  long  past  in  her 
life.  It  was  conceivable  that  that  time  long  past 
would  begin  to  be  a  factor  of  her  life  in  the  im- 
mediate future,  and  as  such  it  occupied  her  to- 
day, now  that  the  staircase  and  her  speech  at  the 
Industrial  Sale  were  off  her  mind,  somewhat  in- 
sistently. There  was  no  mystery  about  it  all,  and 


THE    HOUSE  ®F   DEFENCE      111 

nothing  whatever  to  fear  either  in  the  past  or  the 
future.  But  certain  dim  possibilities  interested 
her. 

Count  Villars  had  just  arrived  in  England, 
having  at  an  extraordinarily  early  age,  for  he 
could  not  yet  be  forty,  been  appointed  Hungarian 
ambassador  to  the  Court  of  St.  James ;  and  there 
were  quite  a  number  of  people  resident  in  that 
parish  who  remembered  very  distinctly  how  des- 
perately he  had  fallen  in  love  with  Lady  Thurso 
twelve  years  ago,  when  she  had  first  come  out, 
and,  as  her  mother  .expressed  it,  taken  "  the 
shine  "  out  of  the  rest  of  the  girls  of  the  year. 
Then,  so  the  world  still  remembered,  rather  per- 
plexing events  had  happened  in  rapid  succession. 
Her  engagement  to  Count  Villars  had  been  an- 
nounced, but  hardly  had  that  happened  when  it 
was  contradicted,  young  Villars,  then  a  junior 
secretary  in  the  embassy  of  which  he  was  now 
the  head,  had  been  transferred  elsewhere,  and 
immediately  afterward  Lily  Etheridge's  engage- 
ment to  her  present  husband  took  place,  and  was 
followed  before  the  year  was  out  by  her  marriage. 
For  Mrs.  Etheridge  had  always  meant  that  her 
daughter  should  marry  Lord  Stratton,  as  he  then 
was,  and  if  anybody  thought  that  her  plans  were 
going  to  be  interfered  with  by  any  volcanic  young 
Austrian,  however  brilliant  or  handsome,  who 
had  not  a  penny  of  his  own,  and  was  half  a  dozen 


112      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

lives  removed  from  the  ownership  of  Villars 
(those  lives  certainly  made  a  lot  of  difference), 
she  would  show  him  his  mistake.  There  were,  in 
fact,  many  who  thought  so,  but  their  mistake  had 
duly  been  demonstrated  to  them  when  Lily  Ether- 
idge  so  soon  after  became  Lady  Stratton.  It  had 
been  supposed,  however,  that  Mrs.  Etheridge  had 
experienced  a  certain  difficulty  in  showing  her 
daughter  her  mistake  in  believing  that  she,  hav- 
ing actually  told  Rudolf  Villars  that  she  would 
marry  him,  was  going  to  do  so,  but  that,  too,  had 
been  done. 

Rudolf  Villars,  in  this  long  interval  of  twelve 
years,  had  done  everything  except  marry,  and 
Fortune  had  clearly  declared  herself  to  be  his 
parent.  His  brilliant  gifts  had  reaped  their  re- 
ward, relations  neither  near  nor  dead  had  died, 
and  while  not  yet  forty  he  was  next  in  succession 
to  the  large  principality  of  Villars,  and  ambassa- 
dor to  the  English  Court.  To  the  world  at  large 
the  situation  which  just  now  was  rather  largely 
discussed  had  elements  of  interest;  it  was  known 
of  course  that  Lily  Thurso  and  her  husband  were 
not  romantically  attached  to  each  other;  it  was 
conjectured  that  since  Count  Villars  had  remained 
single  he  was  still  romantically  attached  to  her, 
and  it  was  impossible  not  to  help  wondering 
whether  at  last  Lady  Thurso  would  show  signs 
of  being  attached  to  anybody.  To  the  world  she 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      113 

was,  in  one  aspect,  in  spite  of  her  cachet,  her 
brilliance,  her  charm,  a  somewhat  irritating 
enigma.  All  that  queenliness  of  beauty  belonged 
to  nobody;  she  did  not  care  for  her  husband,  but 
she  cared  for  nobody  else.  And  so  many  men 
had  been  wildly  devoted  to  her,  and  none  had  had 
a  single  particle  of  success.  She  was  not  shocked 
at  their  declarations  of  love:  had  she  been 
shocked  her  attitude  would  at  any  rate  have  been 
a  moral  and  an  intelligible  one.  But  she  merely 
laughed  at  them,  and  told  them  not  to  be  silly.  If 
they  persisted  she  yawned.  She  forgot  all  about 
it,  too,  a  week  afterward,  even  if  they  had  made 
her  yawn  very  much,  asked  them  to  the  house  just 
as  usual,  and  was  as  friendly  as  possible. 

Lily  Thurso,  as  will  have  been  gathered,  did 
her  duty  in  the  state  of  life  to  which  her  mother, 
in  the  main,  had  called  her,  with  extraordinary 
fulness.  She  had  grasped  as  soon  as  she  mar- 
ried almost  the  sort  of  life  that  her  position  en- 
tailed if  she  was  to  fill  it  adequately  and  with  any 
credit  to  herself,  and  with  all  her  splendid  ener- 
gies of  body  and  mind,  she  lived  up  to  a  really 
high  ideal  of  it.  Her  time,  her  talents,  her  money, 
were  always  at  the  service  of  any  scheme  which 
she  believed  to  be  one  which  should  be  supported 
by  those  in  her  position,  and  she  brought  to  the 
task  not  the  bare  sense  of  duty  only,  but  a  most 
warm-hearted  kindliness.  The  sense  of  duty 


114      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

alone  is  a  barren  road  to  tread,  but  her  kindli- 
ness, her  interest  in  those  who  were  in  need, 
made  it  for  her  to  break  out  into  flowers.  She 
genuinely  cared  for  the  causes  to  which  she  so  de- 
voted herself;  she  wanted  everybody  to  have  a 
good  time,  and  she  knew  that  it  was  her  own  tire- 
less efforts  that  gave  her  a  good  time  herself. 
But  this  kindliness  which  pervaded  her  nature 
was  the  highest  motive  she  knew:  she  did  every- 
thing warmly  but  nothing  passionately,  because 
it  seemed  as  if  passion  had  been  left  out  of  her 
nature.  Yet  sometimes,  as  this  afternoon,  she 
wondered  whether  that  was  absolutely  the  case: 
for  though  she  had  certainly  not  felt  passion  in  all 
the  years  of  her  married  life,  she  still  remembered 
that  blissful  perplexity,  which  was  half -bliss,  half- 
unhappiness,  which  she  had  known  in  those  few 
months  which  had  culminated  in  her  promise  to 
marry  Eudolf  Villars.  Whatever  that  feeling 
was,  it  had  been  a  bud  only,  and  had  never  ex- 
panded into  a  flower,  for  swift  maternal  hands 
had,  without  any  figure  of  speech,  nipped  it  off. 
She  had  been  called  a  sentimental  school-girl  with 
such  assurance  that  it  had  convinced  her  for  the 
time  being.  But  to-day,  when  she  knew  that  this 
evening  the  man  who  had  at  any  rate  roused  in 
her  the  sentimentality  of  a  school-girl  would  after 
this  long  lapse  of  years  come  to  her  house  again, 
she  wondered  (though  this  was  useless  emotional 


THE   HOUSE   OP   DEFENCE      115 

baggage)  what  she  would  feel.  She  had  not  seen 
him  since;  probably  he  was  rather  bald,  rather 
stout,  rather  of  the  diplomatist  type  which  seemed 
to  her  to  be  causelessly  self-important.  Very 
likely,  when  his  name  was  announced,  she  would 
shake  hands  with  a  stranger.  She  almost  hoped 
that  this  would  prove  to  be  so.  For  she  did  not 
want  to  feel  again  that  trembling  uncertainty, 
that  sense  of  unknown  possibilities  of  overmas- 
tering emotion,  that  she  had  felt  twelve  years  ago. 
Her  life  was  very  full,  she  enjoyed  it  enormously, 
she  was  happy,  she  was  nearly  content.  And  she 
did  not,  as  far  as  she  knew  herself,  wish  to  risk 
terrible  agitation  and  upheaval  in  order  to  be 
possibly  quite  content.  She  had  seen  love,  in 
fact,  like  distant  lightning  on  the  horizon :  she  did 
not  want  the  thunder-storm  to  come  closer. 

Yet,  yet  .  .  .  already  in  her  summer  of 
life,  she  sometimes  asked  herself,  "  Is  this  all?  " 
It  seemed  a  sorry  comedy:  to  be  gifted  with  so 
much  and  to  be  able  to  realize  so  little  was  a  poor 
task  for  the  appointed  threescore  years  and  ten 
of  life.  If  she  had  been  really  tempted  to  be  what 
moralists  called  wicked,  that  would  have  been 
something,  but  she  knew  quite  clearly  and  calmly 
that  she  had  never  been  tempted  like  that. 
Frankly,  she  did  not  believe  in  God,  in  a  huge 
central  force  that  was  utterly  good,  and  that  being 
denied  her,  she  felt  sometimes  that  it  would  have 


116      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

been  some  consolation  to  believe  in  the  Devil. 
But  she  did  not  believe  in  him  either;  the  fasci- 
nation of  sin  had  as  little  existence  for  her  as  the 
fascination  of  holiness.  She  was  a  strong,  healthy 
woman,  with  many  opportunities  for  doing  good, 
of  which  she  availed  herself  nobly,  being  of  a  most 
kindly  nature,  and  of  the  many  opportunities  that 
she  also  had  of  being  wicked  she  did  not  avail 
herself,  because  she  did  not  care  sufficiently. 
Morality  had  perhaps  no  existence  for  her,  and 
she  was  absolutely  moral  in  thought  and  action 
merely  because  she  had  no  temptation  to  be  other- 
wise. To  her,  as  a  married  woman,  it  seemed 
rather  bad  form  to  have  a  lover.  It  was  not  dig- 
nified: you  had  to  play  a  part.  But  she  realized 
that  if  only  she  cared  for  any  of  those  men  who 
certainly  "  cared  "  for  her,  no  moral  code  would 
have  stood  in  the  way  of  her  doing  what  she 
wanted.  But  she  did  not  want :  and  she  wondered 
whether  the  failure  to  want  was  strength  or 
weakness. 

The  Industrial  Sale  went  off  with  the  success 
that  always  attended  any  scheme  that  she  took 
up,  and  an  hour  after  she  had  opened  it  most  of 
the  stalls  were  nearly  empty,  though  the  prices 
charged  and  paid  for  the  objects  sold  were  of  the 
most  fancy  order.  She  herself  had,  after  she  had 
made  the  opening  speech,  sold  stockings,  nothing 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      117 

but  stockings,  and  all  male  London,  it  appeared^ 
had  been  in  want  of  stockings.  They  had  been 
frightfully  expensive,  but  the  sense  of  her  own 
cheapness  in  making  them  so  was  counteracted 
by  the  knowledge  of  the  good  cause.  Irish  peas- 
ants had  made  them,  and  she  willingly  lent  her 
position  and  her  place  in  order  that  Irish  peas- 
ants might  reap  the  benefits  of  what  was  adven- 
titiously hers.  She  was  sorry  for  people  who 
had  to  live  like  that:  she  willingly  gave  her  time, 
her  energy,  even  her  sense  of  "  cheapness,"  to 
help  them.  But  before  her  stall  was  empty  she 
had  seen  somebody  in  the  crowd  whom  she  recog- 
nized, though  she  had  not  seen  him  for  so  long. 
He  was  neither  bald  nor  stout ;  he  was  as  she  re- 
membered him.  And  again  the  distant  lightning 
flickered  on  the  horizon. 

Apparently,  though  he  had  only  arrived  in 
England  two  or  three  days  ago,  he  had  more  than 
two  or  three  friends  here,  and  for  half  an  hour 
after  she  had  seen  him  first  he  was  occupied  with 
hand-shakes  and  recognition-speeches.  Then, 
after  her  stall,  which  had  been  besieged  by  buy- 
ers, was  bare,  he  passed  and  caught  her  eye. 

"  Ah,  Lady  Thurso,"  he  said,  in  the  accurate 
foreign  speech  which  she  found  now  that  she  re- 
membered so  well,  "  a  thousand  greetings.  I 
tried  to  get  near  your  stall,  but  it  was  impossible. 
And  one  never  wastes  time  in  attempting  the  im- 


118      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

possible.  But  now  you  have  nothing  that  I  can 
buy ;  so  I,  as  a  purchaser,  am  impossible,  too !  ' ' 

She  tried  to  say  something  natural :  and  since 
the  attempt  to  say  something  natural  failed,  she 
was  natural  without  trying. 

"  Yes,  here  I  am,'?  she  said^  "  but  I  have  sold 
everything.  You  are  too  late." 

"  I  was  too  early  once,"  he  said. 

She  who  was  generally  so  apt  of  speech,  so 
quick  to  take  up  a  point,  or  drop  it  for  another, 
so  as  to  avoid  any  pause,  which  she  always  said 
was  an  insult  to  the  person  you  were  talking  to, 
as  well  as  a  dismal  comment  on  the  quality  of 
your  own  intelligence,  let  a  perceptible  pause  en- 
sue. For  as  she  stood  there,  in  one  moment 
twelve  years  had  been  wiped  out  of  her  life,  some 
thrill,  some  nameless  bitter-sweet  agitation,  again 
like  the  distant  lightning  flickered  through  her. 
She  was  no  stranger  to  that  feeling;  she  had  felt 
it  before.  But  for  the  moment — infinitesimal  in 
duration — it  tied  her  tongue:  it  was  like  some 
tune  that  we  have  heard  in  childhood,  and  sud- 
denly hear  again,  so  that  we  must  pause  and  say 
to  ourselves,  "  Ah,  what  is  that?  ' 

Then  she  recovered  herself  partly. 

' '  That  is  the  diplomatist 's  duty,  is  it  not, ' '  she 
said,  "  always  to  be  a  little  earlier  than  other 
people?  " 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      119 

She  pulled  herself  together  again,  determining 
on  her  attitude  toward  him. 

"  And  your  excellency  is  coming  to  our  dance 
to-night,  are  you  not  ?  ' '  she  said. 

A  faint  smile  quivered  for  a  moment  on  his 
mouth,  and  showed  itself  in  his  dark  eyes. 

"  Yes,  my  lady,"  he  said. 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  epidemic  of  typhoid  which  had  been  so  vio- 
lent had  ceased  like  one  of  Thurso's  headaches; 
it  was  as  if  a  tap  had  been  turned  off,  and  after 
the  ball  he  had  dropped  no  word  to  indicate  that 
he  intended  to  go  North  again.  This  quite  fell  in 
with  his  wife's  desires,  for  she  wished  him  for 
many  reasons  to  be  in  London  and  with  her  for 
a  time,  and  since  the  night  of  the  ball  an  extra 
reason  had  been  added,  namely,  that  she  knew  that 
people  were  "  wondering  '•  about  herself  and 
Count  Villars.  The  memory  of  the  world  gener- 
ally is  very  short:  the  events  of  one  week  are 
quite  sufficient  to  put  out  of  its  head  those  of  the 
week  before,  but  when  it  does  happen  really  to 
remember  a  thing  its  memory  has  the  tiresome 
tenaciousness  of  a  child's.  You  may  change  the 
subject,  you  may  point  to  bright  objects,  you  may 
rattle  with  toys,  but  the  world,  like  the  child, 
though  it  may  be  distracted  for  the  moment,  gets 
a  glassy  eye  again  and  says,  "  But  what  about?  ' 
The  world  was  doing  it  now,  and  she  felt  that 
Thurso's  presence  gave  a  better  chance  of  dis- 
tracting the  world  again  than  any  bright  objects 
she  might  dangle  before  it.  The  ball  had  been 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      121 

a  very  bright  object  indeed;  it  differed  somehow 
in  kind  from  other  functions.  Other  functions 
might  have  all  London  assembled  in  a  beautiful 
house,  with  a  beautiful  band,  with  everybody  in 
their  crowns  and  tiaras,  but  all  the  world  knew 
that  Lady  Thurso  had  hit  the  very  top  note  that 
time,  the  top  note  that  is  struck  only  once  in  the 
season.  What  the  top  note  was  it  was  difficult  to 
say,  just  as  it  is  difficult  to  say  why  the  same  ingre- 
dients can  make  two  perfectly  different  puddings, 
except  that  it  depends  on  the  cook.  That  ball 
anyhow,  though  perhaps  the  same  people  had 
been  to  twenty  other  balls,  and  that  the  ingredi- 
ents were  the  same,  was  the  ball  of  the  year,  and 
it  was  useless  for  others  to  compete.  That  huge 
success,  the  wild-flower  staircase,  might  have  had 
something  infinitesimal  to  do  with  it:  that  glori- 
ous dining-room,  not  turned  upside  down  and 
smothered  in  flowers,  might  have  helped,  for  the 
chic  of  not  decorating  a  room  at  all,  but  keeping 
it  as  it  always  was,  so  that  apparently  you  could 
have  this  sort  of  entertainment  without  fuss  or 
bother  of  any  kind,  was  undeniable.  Yet,  again,, 
nobody  could  turn  their  staircase  into  a  hayfield 
without  bother.  So  the  upshot  was  that  Lady 
Thurso  alone  knew  how  to  do  it,  what  to  keep  as 
if  "  a  few  friends  "  only  were  coming  in,  what 
to  decorate  and  how  to  decorate  it,  what  to  say, 
how  to  look,  what  to  wear.  She  had  looked,  it 


may  be  remarked,  magnificent,  and  wore  rubies. 
The  top  note  had  been  sounded,  as  clear  as  a 
musical  glass. 

But  much  as  the  ball  was  talked  about,  she  knew 
that  Count  Villars  and  she  were  talked  about 
more.  Wherever  people  met  together  during  the 
week  afterward,  the  ball  of  course  had  to  be  men- 
tioned, but  afterward  an  invariable  question 
came,  "Is  he  still  devoted  to  her?  '  And  the 
number  of  comments  on  that,  the  interpretations, 
the  guesses,  would  have  satisfied  any  of  those 
myriad  women  whose  ideal  of  life  is  to  be  talked 
about  in  that  sort  of  way.  Unfortunately,  Lily 
Thurso  did  not  belong  to  those  ranks;  it  gave 
her  not  the  slightest  pleasure  to  know  that  a  situ- 
ation that  concerned  her  like  this,  concerned  any- 
body else.  Had  she,  when  she  had  met  Count  Vil- 
lars again,  said  to  herself,  "  Can  it  be  he?  I 
should  never  have  known  him!  "  she  might  not 
have  cared  in  the  smallest  degree  what  anybody 
chose  to  say.  But  she  had  not  said  that ;  instead, 
something  within  her,  independent  of  her  own 
control,  it  seemed  had  said  ' '  Eudolf . ' '  The  emo- 
tional history  which  had  been  interrupted  twelve 
years  ago  on  its  very  first  page  had  gone  on  just 
where  it  left  off.  That  vague  girlish  excitement 
and  troubled  joy  was  hers  again.  But  now  her 
twelve  years  of  womanhood  wrote  their  comment 
on  the  text.  Passion  had  not  been  awake  in  her 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      123 

then :  the  potential  fire  had  not  been  supplied  with 
fuel.  But  now — in  this  hour  of  her  life — was  the 
light  of  dawn,  pale  and  uncertain  then,  ready  to 
blaze  into  mid-day?  Already  she  feared  to  ask 
herself  that. 

The  pretence  of  playing  at  being  strangers, 
when  she  at  the  bazaar  had  called  him  ' i  your  ex- 
cellency," had  broken  down  with  singular  com- 
pleteness. That  very  night  he  had  established  a 
footing  of  old  friendship  to  which,  to  do  him  jus- 
tice, he  was  perfectly  entitled.  She  could  not  de- 
fend herself  against  -Vat,  she  could  not  resent  it. 
Years  ago  he  had  loved  her,  and  had  asked  her  to 
marry  him,  and  if  that  does  not  entitle  a  man  to 
take  the  attitude  of  an  old  friend  when  next  re- 
lations of  any  sort  are  resumed,  there  is  nothing 
in  the  world  that  does.  Also — and  this  was  not 
a  minor  point — she  had  accepted  him  and  thrown 
him  over.  Neither  by  look  nor  by  word  did  he 
appear  to  cast  that  up  against  her  now.  Yet 
though  in  the  week  that  had  passed  he  had  as- 
sumed— so  justly — his  right  of  friendship,  he  im- 
plied much  more.  She  knew  perfectly  well  that 
he  still  loved  her,  and  on  the  night  of  the  ball  he 
had  let  her  know  that,  and  had  then  never  re- 
ferred to  it  again.  But  as  he  went  away  then,  he 
said: 

"  They  told  me  you  were  more  beautiful  than 


124      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

ever,  and  I  said  it  was  not  possible.  But  they 
were  right." 

He  was  florid  perhaps:  his  manners,  excellent 
though  they  were,  had  always  been  a  little  florid. 
But  he  was  always  sincere.  He  felt  things  vividly, 
and  thus  expressed  them. 

It  was  characteristic  of  her  and  of  the  worldly 
wisdom  with  which  she  always  ordered  her  life 
that  she  crammed  into  the  week  that  followed  the 
ball  things  which  would  ordinarily  have  taken 
even  her  ten  days  to  get  through.  She  had  seen 
at  once  that  a  question  of  some  importance  would 
some  time  have  to  be  answered,  and  having  made 
up  her  mind  as  to  what  her  answer  would  be,  she 
also  made  it  impossible  for  herself,  as  far  as  was 
in  her  power,  to  leave  herself  any  time  for  recon- 
sidering it.  She  had,  as  has  been  said,  no  real 
moral  code  to  refer  it  to;  she  had  been  born, 
as  many  people  are,  without  a  moral  sense,  and 
her  upbringing  and  environment  had  not  spon- 
taneously generated  it.  She  did  not,  for  instance,, 
steal,  not  because  it  was  wicked  to  steal,  and  the 
commandment  told  you  not  to,  but  because  it  was 
mean  and  nasty,  like  going  about  with  dirty 
gloves.  And  as  regards  other  things,  no  sense  of 
morals  dictated  decision  now.  To  put  it  baldly 
and  blankly,  as  she  did  to  herself,  here  was  a  man 
who  had  loved  her  twelve  years  ago,  and  she  felt 
certain  still  loved  her.  But  she  was  Thurso's 


THE   HO  USE    OF   DEFENCE      125 

wife.  Other  wives — but  she  reflected  that  that 
was  not  her  business.  Worldly  wisdom,  how- 
ever, said  much  more  than  this  to  her.  It  would 
be  absurd  to  appear  to  be  a  stranger  to  Count 
Villars;  if  she  avoided  him,  did  not  treat  him 
with  the  friendliness  that  was  only  his  due,  the 
world  would  certainly  say  that  she  avoided  him 
in  public  to  meet  him  in  private.  That,  she  knew, 
was  ridiculous,  since  London  life  was  a  glass  case 
of  publicity,  but  her  correct  attitude,  obviously, 
was  to  be  friends  with  him.  It  was  here  that 
Thurso's  presence  in  London  was  desirable;  the 
whole  affair  was  delicate,  and  if  he  was  some- 
where in  Caithness,  where  there  might  be  typhoid 
or  there  might  not,  her  position  was  more  difficult. 
That  the  opinion  of  the  world  was  unduly  impor- 
tant to  her  was  very  likely  to  be  true,  but  she  lived 
in  it. 

Lady  Thurso  had  a  charming  place  on  the 
Thames,  just  below  Maidenhead,  which  had  been 
left  her  by  her  mother,  and  here  she  often  enter- 
tained from  Saturday  till  Monday,  not  with  any 
mistaken  notion  that  it  was  a  rest  after  the  bustle 
of  London  to  get  into  the  country,  but  in  order 
to  bustle  more  than  ever.  London,  it  is  true,  was 
bustle  enough,  but  the  London  bustle  did  not  pub- 
licly begin  till  eleven  or  so,  unless  she  was  seeing 
writers  of  socialistic  articles.  Whereas,  at  Bray 
Court,  the  bustle  began  earlier,  since,  as  this  was 


126      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

the  country,  it  was  necessary  to  play  a  round  of 
golf  or  row  wildly  on  the  Thames,  or  bathe  in  that 
long-suffering  river  before  the  day  began  at  all. 
Thurso  was  coming  down  with  her,  and  they  left 
Thurso  House  together  after  luncheon  on  Satur- 
day. Maud  had,  so  to  speak,  engaged  a  bedroom, 
but  as  she  had  not  appeared  when  the  motor  came 
round,  it  was  obvious  that  she  was  going  to  find 
her  way  on  her  own  account. 

11  Well,  she's  not  here,"  said  Lily,  as  she 
stepped  into  the  car,  "  and  really  we  can't  wait, 
Thurso.  Unless  we  start  now,  people  will  get 
there  before  we  do,  and  you  can't  do  that  in  the 
country. ' ' 

11  No,  it's  as  well  to  be  at  one's  house  if  one 
has  asked. people  to  stay  in  it,"  he  remarked. 

He  got  in  after  her,  but  stood  for  a  moment 
with  his  hand  on  the  door,  as  if  waiting  to  give 
Maud  another  minute.  Her  eye  happened  to  fall 
on  it,  and  she  saw  it  was  trembling.  The  next 
moment  he  sat  down,  caught  her  eye  and  looked 
away  again  flushing  a  little.  There  was  some- 
thing furtive  about  the  movement,  which  was  un- 
like him.  But  all  this  week  she  had  been  a  little 
uneasy  about  him;  he  had  seemed  nervous,  easily 
startled,  uncertain  of  himself.  And  as  they 
started,  though  caresses  were  not  frequent  be- 
tween them,  she  laid  her  hand  on  his. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      127 

"  Thurso,  old  boy,"  she  said,  "  are  you  well? 
There  is  nothing  the  matter  with  you?  " 

"  Perfectly  well,  thanks,"  he  said.  "  I  don't 
know  why  you,  ask." 

"  You  don't  look  very  well.  Maud  said,  too, 
that  you  had  had  several  very  bad  headaches  up 
North." 

' '  I  have  had  no  return  of  them  since  I  came  to 
town,"  said  he. 

The  footman  had  got  up  by  the  chauffeur,  and 
the  big  Napier  car  bubbled  and  whirred  to  itself 
a  moment,  and  then  slid  noiselessly  off  with  rapid 
but  absolutely  smooth  acceleration  of  its  pace 
over  the  dry  street.  The  roadway  was  very  full, 
but  it  flicked  in  and  out  of  the  moving  traffic, 
dancing  gently  on  its  springs,  with  the  precision 
of  a  fish  steering  between  clumps  of  waving  water- 
weeds.  It  seemed  more  like  a  sentient  animal,  a 
horse  with  a  fine  mouth,  than  a  machine,  or  as  if 
intelligence  and  discernment,  a  brain  of  exquisite 
delicacy,  lived  in  the  long  bonnet,  rather  than 
merely  wheels  and  cylinders.  It  slackened  its  speed 
before  it  came  to  any  block  in  the  traffic,  as  if 
scenting  it  from  far  off ;  it  cut  in  and  out  of  mov- 
ing cabs  and  omnibuses  as  if  possessed  of  occult 
knowledge  with  regard  to  the  pace  they  were 
going,  and  what  lay  ahead  of  them ;  it  foresaw  im- 
pediments to  its  running  that  seemed  as  if  they 
could  not  be  foreseen,  and  found  openings  that 


128      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

appeared  invisible.  But  all  down  Piccadilly 
Thurso  seemed  very  nervous,  he  could  hardly 
sit  still,  but  kept  shifting  in  his  seat,  frowning 
and  even  once  calling  out  to  the  chauffeur,  who, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  one  in  a  thousand,  bid- 
ding him  take  care,  and  go  more  quietly  through 
the  jostle  of  vehicles.  This,  again,  was  quite  un- 
like him,  and  his  wife  watched  him  narrowly  and 
attentively.  But  when  it  came  to  his  calling  out 
to  the  inimitable  Marcel,  who  would  sooner  have 
scraped  all  the  skin  off  his  own  hands  than  let 
another  vehicle  scrape  one  grain  of  paint  off  the 
the  splash-board  of  his  beloved  car,  she  could  not 
help  protesting. 

11  My  dear  Thurso,"  she  said,  "  what  is  the 
matter  ?  He  is  driving  absolutely  carefully. ' ' 

Thurso  frowned  and  spoke  irritably. 

"  I  don't  think  he  is  at  all,"  he  said.  "  But 
women  are  never  satisfied  till  they've  had  a 
smash. ' ' 

This  again  was  utterly  unlike  him :  his  tone  dis- 
tinctly failed  in  courtesy. 

11  If  you  are  nervous,  I  will  set  you  down  at 
Paddington,"  she  said,  "  and  you  can  take  the 
train." 

"  That  is  absurd,"  he  said  shortly. 

They  went  on  in  silence  for  a  little  and  Thurso 
made  a  great  effort  to  pull  himself  together.  He 
knew  quite  well  that  his  nerves  were  out  of  order, 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      129 

and  though  it  was  true  that  he  had  no  headache 
since  coming  to  town,  that  was  because  he  had  al- 
ways stopped  it  coming  on  by  the  liberal  use  of 
that  drug  which  never  failed.  Nor  had  he  taken 
it  only  for  those  purposes,  and  he  knew  in  him- 
self that  he  had  begun  to  be  dragged  into  the 
habit  as  a  man  whose  clothes  are  caught  between 
revolving  cog-wheels  is  bound  to  be  dragged  in, 
unless  by  a  superhuman  effort  he  can  break  away. 
It  was  now  two  days  since  he  had  touched  it,  and 
he  had  promised  himself  as  a  reward  for  his  ab- 
stinence a  dose  of  it  when  he  got  down  to  Bray. 
After  that,  so  he  had  planned,  he  would  begin  to 
break  away  from  it  again:  his  next  treat  should 
be  three  days  afterward :  his  next  four  days.  But 
during  the  last  week  in  Scotland  he  had  taken  it 
every  day  and  sometimes  twice.  That  would 
never  do :  he  would  at  once  set  about  the  task  of 
breaking  himself  of  it.  That  must  be  done  by 
degrees,  however ;  the  intervals  between  his  treats 
should  become  longer  and  longer  till  he  craved 
for  it  no  more.  Craved?  How  he  craved  now! 
It  was  that  which  made  him  so  nervous  and  irri- 
table. Meantime,  it  was  important  that  Lily 
should  not  think  that  anything  was  wrong.  So  be- 
fore the  pause  after  his  last  rather  snappish  reply 
to  her  had  become  long,  he  spoke  again  in  a  dif- 
ferent tone. 

"  You  must  forgive  me  for  speaking  rudely," 


130      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

he  said,  "  and  I  am  sure  that  Marcel  is  really 
careful.  But  I  had  rather  a  trying  time  up  in 
Scotland,  and  Dr.  Symes  told  me  my  nerves  were 
a  little  jumpy.  But  it  is  nothing.  He  said  the 
best  thing  I  could  do  was  to  come  down  here  and 
amuse  myself,  and  forget  all  about  the  typhoid. ' ' 

"  Won't  you  see  a  doctor?  "  she  asked. 

"  No,  there's  not  the  slightest  need." 

"  But  it's  so  nice  to  be  told  there  is  nothing 
wrong, ' '  she  said. 

He  laughed. 

' l  Oh,  I  am  sure  of  that  without  seeing  one, ' '  he 
said. 

The  house  at  Bray  was  long  and  low  and  ram- 
bling, standing  in  the  middle  of  flower-beds  and 
lawns  and  stiff  box-hedges  cut  into  shape,  which 
screened  it  from  the  river,  so  that  the  Sunday 
afternoon  crowd  could  not,  as  in  most  of  the 
riverside  houses,  observe  exactly  who  was  there 
and  what  they  had  for  tea.  Indeed,  had  it  not 
been  for  this  impenetrable  hedge,  what  they  had 
for  breakfast,  lunch,  and  dinner  would  have  been 
equally  clear,  for  Lady  Thurso  had  built  a  big 
open  pavilion  on  the  lawn,  where,  when  the  day 
was  hot,  it  was  pleasanter  to  have  all  meals. 
Another  pavilion  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  lawn 
served  as  drawing-room  or  card-room,  and  often 
nobody  really  set  foot  in  the  house  at  all  from 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      131 

breakfast  till  bedtime.  A  dozen  guests  were  all 
that  the  house  itself  would  hold,  but  if,  as  often 
happened,  people  proposed  themselves  at  the  last 
moment,  it  was  possible  to  get  accommodation  for 
them  at  a  neighboring  hotel,  where  they  retired 
for  the  night.  To-day,  however,  there  was  going 
to  be  no  sleeping  out.  It  was  doubtful,  indeed, 
whether  the  house  itself  would  be  quite  full. 
Maud  was  certainly  coming,  Count  Villars  and 
Alice  Yardly  and  her  husband  were  certainties, 
as  also  were  Jim  Stratton  and  Ruby  Majendie, 
and  a  couple  of  American  cousins  had  proposed 
themselves,  but  that  only  brought  their  number 
up  to  ten.  Lily  hardly  knew  whether  she  was  or 
was  not  glad  of  this.  For  once,  it  is  true,  she 
would  have  a  quiet  Sunday,  but  she  was  a  little 
worried,  not  only  about  the  emotional  history  of 
her  own  which  has  been  touched  on,  but  also  about 
her  husband,  and  she  was  not  sure  that  she  would 
not  have  preferred  rush  and  bustle.  Yet,  after 
all,  with  only  these  few  people  in  the  house,  she 
could  keep  herself  fairly  well  occupied.  The 
American  cousins,  too,  a  plain  elderly  millionaire, 
dyspeptic  and  rather  mournful,  with  his  wife  who 
was  young,  voluble,  and  carried  about  with  her, 
as  it  were,  pails  of  gross  and  fulsome  flattery, 
with  which  she  whitewashed  everybody,  would 
want  a  little  management.  Lily,  however,  never 
neglected  even  the  most  distant  cousins  when  they 


132      THE   HOUSE   OFDEFENCE 

came  to  England,  for  she  had  inherited  from  her 
mother  that  idea  of  American  hospitality  which 
makes  all  other  hospitality  churlish  in  compari- 
son, and  did  not  consider  her  duty  as  done  when 
she  had  asked  even  the  most  undesirable  cousins 
to  dinner.  She  acknowledged  to  herself  that  these 
particular  ones  were  a  little  trying,  but  she  ac- 
knowledged it  to  nobody  else.  Silas  P.  Morton, 
in  fact,  and  Theodosia,  whom  he  always  addressed 
slowly  as  Theodosia,  giving  each  syllable  its  full 
value,  had  arrived  before  they  got  there,  and  met 
them  hospitably  at  the  front  door. 

"  Why,  if  this  doesn't  tickle  me  to  death,"  ex- 
claimed Theodosia,  "  to  receive  you  at  your  own 
house,  Lily;  and  how  are  you,  Lord  Thurso,  and 
my,  what  a  beautiful  motor !  Silas  and  I  got  here 
just  half  an  hour  ago,  and  your  servants  brought 
us  tea  right  away  out  on  the  lawn  and  made  us 
ever  so  much  at  home.  But  as  I'm  forever  say- 
ing to  everybody,  '  Lily  Thurso  is  just  perfect, 
and  everything  she  has  is  just  perfect — her  hus- 
band, her  houses,  her  dress,  her  motor-car.' 
Don't  I,  Silas?  " 

There  was  never  any  silence  when  Theodosia 
was  present.  She  was  usually  talking  when  some- 
body else  was  talking,  and  she  was  always  talking 
when  nobody  else  was. 

"  Don't  you  what,  Theodosia?  "  said  he. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      133 

"  Don't  I  always  tell  everybody  that  Lily 
Thurso  is  just  perfect  ?  Why,  your  ball  the  other 
night—  I've  seen  a  good  many  balls,  but  never 
have  I  seen  anything  like  that.  I  guess  you're 
proud  of  your  wife,  Lord  Thurso.  And  I  guess 
she's  proud  of  you." 

This  was  all  very  pleasant,  and  Theodosia  kept 
it  up.  She  was  never  tired  or  silent,  and  it  was 
a  matter  of  serious  conjecture  whether  anything 
known  to  happen  would  make  her  stop  talking. 
She  talked  all  the  time  she  was  at  a  dentist's,  even 
when  her  mouth  was  full  of  pads  and  gags,  and 
she  had  once  talked  without  intermission  through 
a  railway  accident.  At  intervals  the  voice  of  her 
husband  said  ' '  Theodosia !  ' '  like  a  clock  striking, 
but  the  ticking  went  on  in  spite  of  it. 

"  And  if  that  isn't  the  cunningest  yew  hedge  I 
ever  saw,"  she  said,  "  with  doors  cut  in  it  just  as 
if  it  were  a  wall,  so  that  you  can  see  the  river 
through  it.  Lord  Thurso,  can  you  see  the  river 
through  it  from  where  you're  sitting?  Silas, 
change  places  with  Lord  Thurso,  because  I  want 
him  to  see  the  river  through  it.  My,  look  at  that 
bug!  What  do  you  call  them!  Oh,  yes,  butterfly 
— what  a  beauty!  Why,  if  it  isn't  going  to  settle 
right  here  on  the  arm  of  my  chair.  Isn't  it  tame? 
The  bugs  in  America  aren't  half  as  tame  as  that. 
Are  they,  Silas!  " 

Lily  finished  her  tea  with  extraordinary  celerity 


134      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

and  got  up.  It  was  she  who  had  asked  Theodosia 
here,  and  she  did  not  for  a  moment  repent  hav- 
ing done  so,  but  she  began  to  foresee  that  it  would 
be  necessary  to  provide  Theodosia  with  relays  of 
companions  who  should  take  her  for  little  walks 
and  little  excursions  in  the  punt  and  drives  in  the 
motor,  if  she  wanted  to  save  her  Saturday  till 
Monday  from  shipwreck.  She  thanked  Heaven 
that  Maud  was  coming,  who  was  always  so  serene 
in  dealing  with  impossible  people,  and  listened  to 
their  impossible  conversation  in  a  manner  that 
was  quite  marvellous.  Clearly,  also,  it  was  by  a 
direct  dealing  of  Providence  that  Alice  Yardly 
was  of  this  party,  for  Alice  asked  for  nothing 
more  than  to  be  allowed  to  talk.  She  was  per- 
fectly happy  sitting  opposite  somebody  who 
talked  simultaneously  so  long  as  she  was  not  in- 
terrupted by  violent  things  like  direct  questions. 
Theodosia  never  asked  them.  She  asked  ques- 
tions by  the  score,  but  never  required  any  an- 
swer. Alice  and  she  talking  to  each  other  would 
be  a  most  happy  pair. 

So  she  took  Theodosia  now  to  the  river,  and 
punted  her  about,  "  punted  her  around  "  was 
Theodosia 's  subsequent  phrase  for  it,  and  when 
they  returned  it  was  to  find  that  everybody  who 
was  expected  had  arrived  and  had  gone  to  their 
rooms  to  dress.  The  evening  was  divinely  warm, 
and  dinner  was  to  take  place  out  of  doors  in  one 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      135 

of  the  pavilions.  Lady  Thurso  was  a  quick 
dresser,  and  though  everybody  else  was  already 
dressing,  she  found  that  she  had  ten  minutes  to 
spare  after  she  had  shown  Theodosia  her  room. 
So,  instead  of  going  at  once  to  dress,  she  went  to 
Maud's  room.  Maud  was  betwixt  and  between, 
with  a  river  of  hair  flowing  goldenly  down  her 
back,  and  much  excursive  geniality. 

"  Dearest  Lily,"  she  said,  "  but  it  was  too  aw- 
ful of  me,  and  I  hope  you  didn't  wait.  I  was  late 
for  lunch,  and  late  starting  afterward,  and  as 
there  were  other  people  going  to  Taplow,  I  mo- 
tored down  with  them.  Isn't  the  country  look- 
ing too  divine?  Did  Thurso  come  with  you?  Do. 
stop  and  talk  to  me  for  five  minutes.  I  know  you 
dress  like  lightning.  How  many  maids  surround 
you?  Three,  is  it?  Oh,  what  fun  all  last  week 
has  been.  You  really  do  give  your  relations  a 
good  tune.  And  it's  an  old-established  custom 
for  you  to  smoke  a  cigarette  while  you  wait  till 
it's  time  for  you  to  dress.  Do  smoke!  ' 

Lady  Thurso  lit  a  cigarette,  and  catching 
Maud's  eye  nodded  in  the  direction  of  her  maid 
and  spoke  in  French. 

' '  Send  her  away  for  a  few  minutes, ' '  she  said. 

Maud  gave  a  little  giggle  of  laughter. 

"  What  a  bad  language  to  choose,"  she  saidr 
"  because  Hortense  is  French.  Aren't  you,  Hor- 


136      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

tense?  Will  you  go  away,  please,  and  come  back 
when  her  ladyship  leaves  me  f  ' ' 

Then  Maud  turned  to  her  sister-in-law. 

"  Now,  dear  Lily,  what  is  it!  "  she  asked. 

11  Well,  first,  do  be  very  kind,  Maud,  and  take 
Theodosia  away  on  all  possible  occasions,  so  that 
she  gets  on  Thurso  's  nerves  as  little  as  may  be. ' ' 

Maud  brought  a  long  braid  of  hair  round  her 
shoulder. 

"  Then  I  know  what  you  really  want  to  talk 
about,"  she  said.  "  Theodosia  first,  and  after- 


' '  Exactly.  Thurso 's  nerves.  He  was  fearfully 
jumpy  coming  down,  and  I  'm  sure  he  isn  't  well, ' ' 
she  said.  "  Has  he  been  having  bad  headaches 
up  in  Scotland?  " 

*  *  Yes,  day  after  day, ' '  said  Maud. 

She  paused  a  moment,  wondering  whether  she 
had  better  say  what  was  on  the  tip  of  her  tongue. 
Then  she  settled  to  do  so:  after  all  it  was  her 
brother's  wife  to  whom  she  was  talking. 

11  He  had  to  get  through  his  day's  work,  too," 
she  said,  "  and  I  think  he  took  laudanum  rather 
freely.  I  was  anxious  about  that,  too.  I  think  he 
ought  to  get  a  doctor's  advice  about  it." 

11  Ah,  but  his  headaches  have  ceased,"  said 
Lily,  with  sudden  relief;  "  he  told  me  he  had  not 
had  one  since  he  came  to  town. ' ' 

"I'm  very  glad,"  rejoined  Maud,  "  because — 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      137 

Well,  it  can't  be  a  good  thing  to  get  in  the  habit 
of  taking  that  stuff,  only  while  he  was  up  there 
he  had  to  get  relief  somehow.  But  of  course  if 
he  has  had  no  return  of  them,  one  needn't  be  anx- 
ious any  more. ' ' 

Lily  looked  at  her  and  then  spoke  quite  quietly. 

"  You  are  not  telling  me  quite  all,"  she  said. 
"  I  think  you  had  better." 

Maud  had  no  inclination  to  do  otherwise;  even 
if  Lily  had  not  guessed  this,  she  would  probably 
have  told  her. 

"  Quite  true,"  she  said.  "  And  it  is  this.  He 
has  begun  to  take  it  for  its  own  sake.  Coming  up 
in  the  train,  for  instance,  he  thought  I  was  asleep, 
and  I  saw  him — yes,  I  spied  on  him,  if  you  like— 
I  saw  him  go  to  his  bag,  take  out  the  bottle  and 
take  a  dose.  He  had  no  headache,  he  was  never 
better.  He  wanted  the  effects  of  it.  It  was  a 
big  dose,  too,  double  the  ordinary  one,  I  should 
say. ' ' 

Lady  Thurso  said  "  Thank  you,  Maud,"  and 
was  silent  again.  "  What  do  you  advise?  "  she 
asked  at  length. 

' '  Get  him  to  see  a  doctor. ' ' 

11  He  won't.  We  must  think  it  over.  Of  course 
it  is  desirable  that  I  should  appear  to  find  out 
what  you  have  told  me  for  myself — find  out,  that 
is  to  say,  that  he  is  taking  this  stuff. ' ' 


138      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

"  You  may  say  I  told  you,  if  that  will  do  any 
good,"  said  Maud. 

Lady  Thurso  went  down  the  passage  to  her 
room.  Outside  Thurso 's  dressing-room  was 
standing  his  valet,  and  a  sudden  thought  occurred 
to  her. 

"  Is  his  lordship  dressed,  do  you  know?  "  she 
asked. 

"  No,  my  lady,  his  lordship  told  me  he  would 
call  me  when  he  began, ' '  said  the  man. 

She  went  to  the  door,  tapped  and  entered. 

"  Flynn  told  me  you  weren't  dressing  yet," 
she  said,  i  l  and  I  wanted  to  talk  to  you  a  moment. 
I'm  afraid  you  must  take  in  Alice  Yardly  and 
have  Theodosia  next  you.  But  we'll  change  about 
to-morrow. ' ' 

Thurso  was  lying  on  his  sofa  doing  nothing, 
with  no  book  and  paper  near  him.  He  had  not 
been  sleeping  apparently,  for  his  eyes  were  wide 
and  bright.  He  laughed  as  she  spoke. 

* '  Why  should  we  change  about  to-morrow  ?  "  he 
said.  "  I  delight  in  Theodosia.  I  delight  in 
everything  to-night.  Is  it  dressing  time?  Don't 
let's  have  dinner  till  half -past  eight.  It  is  ab- 
surd dining  at  eight  in  the  summer,  and  the  hours 
before  dinner  are  so  delicious.  I  don't  feel  as  if 
I  could  dress  yet." 

Lily  had  walked  to  the  window  and  was  observ- 
ing him  closely.  He  stretched  himself  luxuriously 


THE   HO  USE   OF   DEFENCE     139 

as  he  spoke,  and  she  saw  he  had  a  cigarette  in  each 
hand,  both  of  which  were  burning. 

* '  Is  that  a  new  plan, ' '  she  said,  * '  smoking  two 
cigarettes  at  once  ?  ' ' 

"  Yes,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  but  not  origi- 
nal. Don't  you  remember  the  Pirate  King  in 
'  Peter  Pan  '  smokes  two,  or  was  it  three,  cigars 
together.  The  moral  is  that  you  can't  have  too 
much  of  a  good  thing :  one  should  take  one 's  pleas- 
ures thick,  not  thin.  I  am  enjoying  myself.  It 
was  an  excellent  plan  to  come  down  here.  How 
wonderful  the  light  is,  how  good  everything 
smells!  " 

He  turned  a  little  on  his  sofa,  so  that  he  faced 
her  as  she  stood  by  the  window  with  the  light  shin- 
ing on  to  her  delicate  profile. 

' '  And,  my  God,  how  beautiful  you  are,  Lily !  ' ' 
he  said. 

She  left  the  window  and  came  and  stood  close 
to  him.  She  felt  certain  as  to  what  he  had  been 
doing;  she  had  been  with  him  before  when  lau- 
danum gave  him  relief  from  one  of  his  headaches. 

"  Thurso,  have  you  had  any  headache  to- 
day? "  she  asked. 

"  Headache?  No!  I've  forgotten  what  head- 
aches are  like." 

"  Then  why  have  you  been  taking  laudanum, 
opium,  whatever  it  is?  "  she  asked. 


140      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

"  I — haven't,"  he  said,  stumbling  for  a  mo- 
ment on  the  word. 

She  went  quickly  across  to  the  washing-stand, 
took  up  a  glass  that  stood  there  and  smelled  it. 

"  Where  is  the  use  of  saying  that?  "  she  asked. 

He  got  up  quickly,  ashamed  of  having  lied  to 
her,  and  ashamed  of  his  stupidity  in  not  being 
more  careful.  But  his  shame  was  infinitesimal 
compared  to  his  anger  with  her.  She  had  come 
in  and  smashed  up  all  his  happiness;  instead  of 
that  wonderful  sense  of  well-being,  of  utter  phys- 
ical and  mental  contentment,  he  felt  only  furi- 
ously enraged  against  her.  He  had  taken  his 
laudanum,  and  what  right  had  she  to  break  in 
upon  the  divine  effects  of  it,  robbing  him  of  what 
he  had  bought  and  paid  for? 

"  And  where  is  the  use  of  your  interfering  like 
this?  "  he  said.  "  You  have  spoiled  it  all  now. 
It  would  serve  you  right  if  I  took  another  dose 
now  and  did  not  come  down  to  dinner.  You 
know  nothing  about  it  at  all.  I  was  a  martyr  to 
those  headaches  up  in  Scotland,  and  I  began, 
yes,  I  began  to  get  into  the  habit  of  it.  But  I  am 
breaking  myself  of  it.  Till  to-night  I  hadn't 
taken  any  for  two  days,  and  I  was  not  going  to 
take  any  more  for  three  days,  and  after  that  for 
four.  You  seem  to  think  ...  I  don't  know 
what  you  think." 

She  felt  more  tenderly  toward  him  at  this  mo- 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      141 

merit  than  she  had  felt  perhaps  for  years.  His 
weakness,  his  voluble  incoherent  weakness,  as  of 
a  child  making  excuses,  touched  her. 

"  Oh,  Thurso,  you  don't  know  what  a  danger- 
ous thing  you  are  doing,"  she  said.  "Do  be  a 
man,  and  don't  think  about  three  days  and  four 
days,  but  stop  it  now  at  once.  The  longer  it  goes 
on  the  more  difficult  you  will  find  it.  Give  me  the 
bottle,  or  whatever  it  is,  like  a  good  fellow,  and 
let  me  throw  it  away.  You  will  be  glad  you  have 
done  so  every  day  of  your  life. ' ' 

The  effect  of  the  drug  was  still  on  him,  en- 
hancing the  beauty  of  the  light  and  of  the  coun- 
try smells,  enhancing,  too,  her  beauty  as  she 
pleaded  with  him.  His  anger  died  down,  and  as 
for  his  shame,  her  appeal  somehow  mitigated 
that.  The  habit  he  had  begun  to  form  was  not 
yet  deeply  rooted,  his  will  was  not  yet  overcome, 
and  all  his  best  self  told  him  that  she  was  right 
beyond  any  need  or  possibility  of  argument.  He 
unlocked  his  despatch  box,  and  took  out  a  bottle, 
half  empty. 

"  Yes,  you  are  right,"  he  said;  "  here  it  is. 
Don't  despise  me  if  you  can  help  it,  Lily." 

"  Thank  you,  Thurso,"  she  said,  "  thank  you 
most  awfully.  You  will  be  so  glad." 

She  went  to  the  window  and  poured  the  brown 
fluid  out  among  the  leaves  of  the  creeper.  Then 
she  flung  the  bottle  into  the  shrubbery. 


142      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

"  I  ought  to  thank  you,"  he  said.  "  And  I  do. 
Thank  you,  dear." 

The  evening  was  extraordinarily  warm  and 
windless,  and  though  Mr.  Silas  Moreton  sent  for 
a  black  and  white  plaid  which  he  put  round  his 
shoulders  for  fear  of  chills,  no  one  else  felt  the 
necessity  of  extra  wraps,  and  after  dinner  a 
bridge  table  was  started  for  the  two  Americans 
with  Euby  and  Jim  Stratton,  while  the  others 
preferred  for  the  present  to  wander  about  in  the 
dusk.  The  light  still  lingered  in  the  sky,  and  the 
smooth  surface  of  the  river  lay  westward  in 
pools  and  reaches  of  reflected  sunset.  White 
moths  hovered  over  the  garden  beds,  emerging 
every  now  and  then  from  the  darkness  into  the 
bright  light  cast  by  the  lamps  in  the  shelter  in 
which  they  had  dined,  and  the  odors  of  night  be- 
gan to  steal  about.  Lily,  when  they  rose  from 
the  table,  found  Count  Villars  by  her  side,  in- 
clined for  a  stroll,  and  leaving  the  others  they 
went  down  through  the  door  cut  in  the  box  hedge, 
to  catch  the  last  of  the  evening  light  on  the  river. 
Woman  of  the  world  though  she  was,  and  skilled 
at  directing  talk  into  channels  in  which  she 
wished  it  to  flow,  she  still  felt  a  little  nervous 
with  him.  At  dinner  he  had  been  the  polished, 
suggestive  talker,  but  it  had  seemed  to  her  all 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      143 

the  time  as  if  he  was  talking  from  the  surface 
only,  saying  the  quick,  glib  things  that  came  so 
easily  to  him.  And  when  they  had  separated 
themselves  from  the  others,  she  found  her  im- 
pression had  been  correct. 

"  It  was  so  good  of  you  to  ask  me  here,"  he 
said,  "  because  that  means  that  you  admit  me 
again  to  friendship  and  intimacy  with  you.  At 
least,  I  take  it  at  that." 

He  found  and  struck  a  match  to  light  his  cigar- 
ette, holding  it  in  hollowed  hands,  so  that  the 
flame  vividly  illuminated  his  face.  He  had 
changed  extraordinarily  little:  his  dark  eyes  still 
had  the  fire  of  youth  in  them,  and  his  face  had 
neither  grown  stout  nor  attenuated :  his  hair  was 
still  untouched  by  gray,  and  a  plume  of  it  hung 
as  she  had  always  remembered  it,  a  little  apart 
and  over  his  forehead.  He  wore  neither  mus- 
tache nor  beard,  and  a  very  short  upper  lip 
separated  his  rather  large  and  essentially  mas- 
culine mouth  from  a  thin  aquiline  nose.  Then 
as  he  chucked  the  match  away,  he  threw  his  head 
back  with  the  gesture  she  knew  so  well. 

"Or  is  that  presumptuous  of  me?  "  he  said 
gayly.  "  I  charge  you  to  tell  me  that,  and  not 
let  me  go  on  being  presumptuous  uninten- 
tionally. ' ' 

She  laughed. 

"  Not  in  the  least  presumptuous,"  she  said. 


11  One  asks  any  one  to  one's  house  if  there  is  a 
crowd  there,  for  what  does  it  matter  who  comes 
in  a  crowd?  But  here  in  the  country,  one  only 
asks  the  people  one  wants  to  see.  And  the  more 
one  wants  to  see  them,  the  smaller  is  the  party  to 
which  one  asks  them." 

11  That  is  encouraging,"  he  said.  "  It  is  kind 
of  you.  Now,  dear  Lady  Thurso,  we  have  not 
seen  each  other  for  a  long  time,  and  though  old 
histories  are  tiresome,  I  do  want  to  know  one 
thing.  Never  mind  the  history,  the  events,  but 
are  you  happy ?  Have  you  been  happy?  ' 

She  paused  a  moment. 

"  Yes,  immensely  happy,"  she  said.  "  At 
least  my  life  suits  me,  which  I  suppose  implies 
happiness.  I  am — what  is  the  cant  phrase? — in 
harmony  with  my  environment.  And  you?  " 

"  Ah,  well,  I  have  been  ambitious,  and  I  have 
got  what  I  wanted.  I  suppose  I  should  be  con- 
tent with  that.  But  when  I  accepted  this  post  in 
England,  I  did  it  because  I  wanted  something 
more. ' ' 

"  And  you  have  got  it?  "  she  asked. 

"  You  have  just  promised  it  me,  your  friend- 
ship. I  was  very  anxious  about  that." 

She  laughed  again,  conscious  of  a  determina- 
tion not  to  let  the  conversation  get  deeper  than 
this.  But  for  the  moment  it  was  out  of  her 
hands,  for  he  went  on  in  that  cool,  quiet  voice, 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     145 

separating  each  word  from  its  neighbor,  giving 
each  its  individual  value. 

"  People  who  have  been  old  friends,"  he  said, 
"  often  make  a  great  mistake  in  thinking  over 
and  wondering  about  the  past.  I  assure  you  I 
am  not  going  to  do  that.  I  am  more  than  con- 
tent to  take  up  the  present,  just  as  it  is,  fragrant 
with  the  promise  of  your  friendship,  and  fra- 
grant, too,  with  the  knowledge  that  you  have 
been  happy.  I  would  have  given  my  whole  life 
to  make  you  that,  and  now  that  it  has  come  to 
you  without  any  effort  on  my  part,  why,  let  us 
rejoice  over  the  economy  of  my  energy!  " 

They  had  come  to  the  end  of  the /path  by  the 
river,  where  a  gate  bordered  on  the  high  road 
outside,  and  paused  a  moment  before  retracing 
their  steps.  A  big  yellow  moon  had  risen  over 
the  trees  to  the  east,  so  that  while  the  western 
part  of  the  sky  still  glowed  with  sunset,  the  east 
was  flooded  with  that  cold  white  flame  that  turns 
every  color  into  ivory  or  ebony.  And  this 
strange  effect  was  reproduced  on  his  face,  as  he 
stood  facing  north,  for  the  warmth  of  color  from 
the  west  shone  on  one  cheek  and  on  the  other  the 
white  coldness  of  the  moon.  And,  fantastically 
enough,  she  seemed  to  read  his  words  in  a  double 
light:  they  were  cordial  and  generous  enough, 
but  was  their  generosity  that  of  a  fisherman 
who  trails  a  gift  of  free  food — only  the  free  food 


146      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

has  a  hook  inside  it  which  will  capture  and  bring 
his  prey  to  him? 

But  then  instantly  she  told  herself  that  she 
was  utterly  unwarranted  and  unjustified  in  such 
a  conjecture.  His  words  had  been  absolutely 
guileless,  nor  had  she  the  slightest  cause  for  in- 
terpreting them  otherwise.  What  she  had  done 
was  to  read  into  them  the  knowledge  that  twelve 
years  ago  she  had  treated  him  abominably,  and 
credit  him  with  a  desire  for  revenge.  It  was  for 
that  reason  that  she  had  a  touch  of  distrust  to- 
ward him.  She  feared  him,  too.  Beneath  his 
quiet,  kind  words  there  was  a  sense  of  mastery, 
that  he  was  doing  as  he  meant  to  do,  that,  as  he 
had  said,  he  wanted  many  things  and  got  them. 
What,  then,  did  he  want  of  her?  He  had  told 
her:  her  friendship. 

It  was  like  him,  too,  like  his  consummate  clev- 
erness, which  it  required  a  certain  perception  to 
see  at  all,  so  subtle  and  natural  was  it,  to  say 
these  deep  and  serious  things  about  her  happi- 
ness and  her  friendship,  things  which  he  knew 
well  would  remain  in  her  mind,  and  be  food  for 
thought,  and  round  off  the  sentence  with  a  pure 
triviality  of  light  conversation  about  the  econ- 
omy of  energy.  He  dangled  it  before  her,  as  a 
rescuing  rope  may  be  dangled  before  some  one 
at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  well,  and,  exactly  as  he 
had  intended,  she  instantly  seized  it,  thinking  it 


was  she  who  had  without  transition  changed  the 
conversation,  whereas  it  was  he  who,  having 
said  his  say,  had  done  so. 

"  I  really  don't  know  if  one  ought  to  rejoice 
in  economy  of  energy,"  she  said,  as  they  turned 
to  walk  back.  "  There  is  such  an  enormous  lot 
of  energy  in  the  world,  almost  a  glut  of  it.  I 
know  I  have  quite  as  much  as  I  have  any  use  for. 
I  should  find  more  of  it  embarrassing." 

"  You  are  admirable,"  he  said.  "  I  believe 
there  is  never  a  kind  scheme  brought  before  you 
to  which  you  do  not  give  your  real  support,  not 
the  mere  buttress  of  your  name,  but  your  time, 
your  pains,  your  speech.  But  you  see  you  econ- 
omize energy  in  other  directions." 

"  What  directions?  "  she  asked. 

"  Emotional.  You  never  worry,  do  you?  You 
never  regret.  You  never  allow  passion  of  any 
sort  to  master  you." 

This  again  was  rather  more  intimate  than  she 
liked,  yet  somehow  she  did  not  resent  it.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  true  to  say  she  could  not  resent 
it,  for  in  his  very  gentleness  there  was  inherent 
a  strength  that  made  resentment  futile:  you 
might  as  well  resent  the  slow  moving  on  of  a 
glacier.  It  would  do  no  good  resenting  it,  and 
Lily  always  set  her  face  against  doing  things 
that  were  no  good. 

"  No,  I  don't  think  I  worry,"  she  said. 


148      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

Then  suddenly  she  told  herself  she  was  being 
afraid  of  this  man,  and  her  next  words,  simple 
and  short  as  they  were,  required  a  certain  effort 
of  courage,  for  she  asserted  herself  against  him. 

"  And  certainly  I  never  regret,"  she  said. 
"  People  talk  of  destiny  as  if  it  was  a  force  out- 
side themselves.  If  I  thought  that,  I  should,  no 
doubt,  sometimes  regret  the  dealings  of  destiny. 
But  I  don't.  In  all  important  decisions  destiny 
is  really  one's  own  will.  And  my  will  isn't  weak, 
I  think.  I  will  what  I  will.  Is  that  nonsense?  ' 

"  No,  very  admirable  sense,"  said  he.  "  And 
what  if  another's  destiny  or  will  comes  into  con- 
flict with  yours?  ' 

' '  Oh,  then  one  has  to  fight, ' '  said  she. 

He  laughed. 

11  In  all  your  battles  may  success  ever  attend 
the  most  deserving!  "  he  said. 

11  That  is  ambiguous,"  she  said.  "  That  may 
be  a  curse,  not  a  blessing,  on  my  arms." 

11  You  think,  then,  I  am  so  disloyal  as  to  be 
able  to  imagine  that  any  one  is  more  deserving 
than  you?  "  he  asked. 

Again  he  was  a  little  flowery:  he  was  almost  a 
little  fruity. 

"  You  still  delight  in  phrase,  I  see,"  she  said. 

11  Phrases  are  often  quite  sincere,"  he  said. 

They  joined  the  others  after  this,  and  not  long 
after  Lily  suggested  adjournment,  as  they  had 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      149 

all  come  down  to  the  country  to  rest,  and  herself 
went  upstairs  immediately.  But  the  rest  for 
which  she  had  come  into  the  country  did  not  im- 
mediately come  to  her,  and  though  she  was  usu- 
ally an  excellent  sleeper,  first  one  thing  and  then 
another  kept  her  from  crossing  the  drowsy  bor- 
derland. Now  it  would  be  Thurso  who  pulled 
her  back  into  waking  consciousness,  and  the  won- 
der what  was  the  wise  step  to  take  about  him. 
You  couldn't  play  with  drugs  like  that.  .  .  . 
Yet  he  had  allowed  her  to  throw  that  bottle 
away.  True,  but  what  if  he  sent  for  another? 
Then  her  mind  went  swiftly  forward  over  the 
events  of  the  next  week:  it  was  crammed  full  of 
things  to  do ;  she  was  glad  of  that,  for  she  would 
have  no  time  for  thought.  She  did  not  want  to 
think  .  .  .  then  she  turned  on  her  side  and 
began  to  do  so. 

Why  had  Rudolf  Villars  come  back  to  trouble 
her  tranquillity?  He  said  he  had  come  back 
really  to  gain  her  friendship.  But  what  if  she 
could  not  give  it  him,  what  if  her  friendship 
meant  something  more?  She  felt  sure  he  loved 
her;  she  wished  she  felt  sure  that  she  was  not 
beginning  to  love  him.  No  one  else  had  ever 
affected  her  like  that.  She  resented  that  .  .  . 
yet  she  had  said  that  it  was  a  person's  own  will 
which  was  usually  destiny,  and  her  will  was  per- 
fectly made  up  on  the  subject.  But  what  if  it 


150      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

came  into  conflict  with  another  will?  She  was 
afraid  of  him,  too  ...  or,  was  it  of  herself 
that  she  was  afraid? 

Round  and  round  in  her  head  went  the  inces- 
santly turning  wheel  of  thought.  She  thought  of 
Thurso  again,  and  of  the  danger  in  which  he 
stood,  then  again  she  thought  of  Rudolf  Villars, 
and  .  .  .  did  she,  too,  stand  in  danger? 

She  had  drawn  back  her  curtains,  leaving  only 
the  blind  to  cover  the  wide  open  window,  and 
the  moon  outside  shone  full  on  it,  making  all  the 
furniture  and  details  of  her  room  vividly  visible. 
The  walls  were  white,  the  sofas  and  chairs  were 
white  also,  and  on  her  toilet-table  glimmered  the 
silver  of  the  mirror-frame  and  the  silver  handles 
of  brushes  and  toilet  articles.  How  much  or  how 
little  these  familiar  things  meant  to  us!  How 
external  sights  and  sounds  and  objects  could  be 
soaked  with  emotion,  and  how  again  they  could 
be  just  like  dry  sponges,  hard  and  gritty  almost 
to  the  touch.  But  all  she  saw  here,  in  this  her 
bedchamber,  was  no  more  than  dry  sponge,  no 
wine  or  liquor  of  love  had  soaked  into  these 
things.  All  her  life  she  had  missed  that,  and 
how  much  that  was  she  was  beginning  to  guess. 
'Arry  and  'Arriet  in  the  street,  who  changed  hats 
and  shouted  songs,  were  so  infinitely  richer  than 
she,  in  spite  of  all  she  had,  her  position,  her 
beauty,  her  gifts,  her  kindliness.  All  these 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      151 

should  have  been  the  trappings  and  harness 
of  the  chariot  of  love.  Without  it  they  were 
remnants,  odds  and  ends,  fit  only  for  a  jumble 
sale.  Once  she  had  had,  perhaps,  the  opportu- 
nity of  knowing  what  it  was;  but  she  had  been 
very  young  then ;  she  could  not  guess  how  all-im- 
portant was  her  choice,  and  at  that  age  her 
mother's  will  rather  than  her  own  had  been  her 
destiny.  .  But  now,  she  knew,  that  gift,  which 
she  had  rejected  before,  was  coming  nearer 
again  to  her:  it  would  be  offered  again. 

Yet  still  her  will  was  her  destiny,  and  sooner 
than  play  with  these  thoughts  and  admit  argu- 
ment over  them,  she  got  up,  meaning  to  read  a 
book  till  sleep  came  to  her.  The  book  she  wanted 
was  on  the  table  in  the  window,  and  without 
striking  a  light  she  crossed  over  to  it.  The 
clock  on  the  mantelpiece  had  only  just  chimed 
two,  and  a  light  shone  from  under  the  chink  of 
the  door  on  the  left  that  led  to  Thurso  's  dressing- 
room,  so  that  she  knew  the  house  was  not  asleep 
yet.  Also  from  outside  she  heard  the  subdued 
crunch  of  gravel  underneath  the  heel  of  some 
one  who  still  loitered  there,  and  simultaneously 
some  one  (the  loiterer  probably)  began  whistling 
a  little  tune  below  his  breath,  a  little  Austrian 
folk-song  that  she  had  not  heard  for  years.  But 
that,  that  simple  little  melody,  was  soaked  and 
dripping  with  emotion  for  her. 


152      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

Lily  leaned  farther  out,  her  bare  white  arms 
crossed  on  the  sill.  The  glamour  of  the  night — 
whereof  that  low- whistled  melody  seemed  the  key- 
note and  inspiration — was  strong  upon  her. 

The  moon  threw  black  weird  shadows  on  lawn 
and  shrubbery.  Darker  than  the  surrounding 
shade,  his  white  shirt-front  faintly  visible  against 
the  dense  shadow  of  a  clump  of  yews,  stood  Vil- 
lars.  In  his  hand  glowed  the  tip  of  a  half -smoked 
cigarette.  Lily  could  feel  his  eyes  upon  her  al- 
though his  face  at  that  distance  was  but  a  pale 
blur. 

And  thus  they  stood,  he  and  she,  for  perhaps  a 
full  minute ;  darkness  and  light  barring  the  stretch 
of  lawn  between  them;  they  two  alone  in  all  the 
world.  Then 

From  the  hither  side  of  the  line  of  shrubs  rose 
a  faint,  crackling  noise,  as  of  a  twig  snapped  un- 
der a  stealthy  foot.  Lily's  eyes  instinctively  fol- 
lowed the  trend  of  the  sound,  and  rested  on  a  fur- 
tive, crawling  Something  burrowing  its  way  on 
all  fours  along  the  hedge. 

Grotesque,  amorphic,  the  Thing  progressed; 
now  rising,  now  flattening  Itself  against  the  earth ; 
constantly  pausing  to  examine  various  portions  of 
the  shrubbery.  Breathless,  Lily  watched  It's 
movements,  until,  her  gaze  growing  accustomed  to 
the  hedge-thrown  shadows,  she  saw  that  the  prowl- 
ing creature  was  a  man;  creeping  silently  along 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      153 

on  all  fours,  feeling  to  right  and  to  left  as  though 
for  something  he  had  lost.  Lily's  first  thought 
was  that  the  intruder  was  a  burglar  and  in  search 
of  his  concealed  lantern  or  kit  of  tools.  If  he 
should  come  upon  Villars — standing  so  unsuspect- 
ingly, a  bare  twenty  yards  away,  on  the  farther 
side  of  the  shrubbery!  She  had  drawn  in  her 
breath  for  a  cry  of  warning  when  the  cry  died  in 
a  noiseless  gurgle  in  her  throat. 

For  the  Unknown  had  momentarily  entered  a 
patch  of  white  moonlight,  and  the  rays  fell  full 
on  his  face.  He  was  Thurso. 

The  momentary  exultation  following  on  the 
Earl's  scene  with  Lily  earlier  in  the  day  had 
quickly  faded.  All  the  more  quickly  when  he  had 
realized  that  by  an  act  that  now  struck  him  as 
madly  Quixotic,  he  had  deprived  himself  of  the 
phial  which  held  such  boundless  potential  sur- 
cease for  him.  Ordinarily,  he  would  not  have  de- 
sired the  drug  again  so  soon;  but  the  bare  fact 
that  it  was  now  wholly  inaccessible — that  he  could 
not,  if  he  chose,  secure  a  drop  of  it — so  excited 
his  imagination  that  the  craving  rushed  back  on 
him  with  tenfold  force. 

He  could  not  leave  his  guests  to  go  or  even  send 
to  Windsor  to  the  nearest  chemist's  for  another 
supply ;  and  when  at  a  later  hour  he  was  free,  all 
shops  were  of  course  closed.  Hence,  as  the  even- 
ing progressed,  the  longing — fiercer  for  the  in- 


154      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

ability  to  gratify  it — grew  beyond  all  endurance. 
He  could  not  sleep.  The  memory  of  the  precious 
bottle  hurled  out  into  the  shrubbery  rose  again 
and  again  before  him.  Into  the  shrubbery — he 
remembered  that  the  phial  had  a  narrow  neck. 
The  fall,  unless  the  glass  receptacle  had  smashed 
from  impact  with  the  soft  turf,  could  not  wholly 
have  emptied  it.  There  must  be  some — at  least 
part  of  a  dose — left  in  it.  If  only  he  could  find 
the  discarded  phial. 

It  was  absurdly  easy  to  pass  unnoticed  from  the 
house  and  to  gain  the  friendly  shelter  of  the  shrub- 
bery. Here — somewhere — was  the  bottle.  But  it 
is  hard  to  find  a  missing  object,  even  in  a  circum- 
scribed space,  by  night.  Over  and  over  the  ground 
he  crept,  bruising  and  cutting  his  fingers  in  vain 
groping  for  the  coveted  treasure.  He  could  fancy 
how  its  cool,  polished  surface  would  feel ;  how  he 
would  lift  it  to  the  light  to  see  how  much  of  the 
divine  elixir  remained  in  it.  How— 

The  brushing  of  his  face  against  a  leafy  twig 
filled  his  nostrils  with  the  sickly  smell  of  lauda- 
num. Like  a  discouraged  fox-hound  that  unex- 
pectedly picks  up  the  scent,  Thurso's  spirits  rose 
with  a  bound.  Here,  or  near  here,  the  phial  must 
have  struck;  its  contents  spattering  the  shrubs. 
If  only  too  much  had  not  been  wasted! 

Disregarding  caution,  Thurso  * '  beat  ' '  the  sur- 
rounding turf,  fumbling  at  the  roots  of  the  hedge. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      155 

Plunging  forward  in  a  momentary  loss  of  balance 
he  threw  out  his  hands  to  keep  from  falling.  His 
fingers  closed  about  a  damp,  chilly  surface.  In 
another  instant  the  phial  was  in  his  hands.  A 
delicious  thrill  of  relief  swept  across  him,  leaving 
him  faint. 

But  at  the  next  moment,  firm,  light  footsteps 
crossing  toward  him  from  the  farther  side  of  the 
hedge,  drove  the  blood  back  in  a  wave  to  his  heart 
and  set  him  trembling.  If  Lily  or  his  sister  should 
have  seen  him  and 

With  childish  fury  he  resolved  not  to  be  de- 
prived of  the  joy  that  he  had  so  hardly  acquired. 
He  lifted  the  phial  to  his  mouth  and  swallowed. 
It  contained  more  of  the  liquid  than  he  had 
thought ;  more  than  ever  before  he  had  taken.  He 
crouched  in  the  shadows  and  waited  for  the  first 
dull  sensation  of  numbness  and  nervous  relief  that 
should  herald  his  approach  to  Eden.  And  as  he 
waited  the  footsteps  drew  nearer,  passed  him  and 
moved  into  the  full  moonlight  beneath  Lily's  win- 
dow. 

Thurso  looked  up  and  recognized  Villars.  He 
remained  spellbound  and  speechless  as -his  eyes 
devoured  the  silent  figure  and  his  brain  slowly  be- 
gan to  grasp  the  possible  reasons  for  its  presence. 

A  gust  of  wrath  pierced  the  sweet  numbness 
that  enveloped  Thurso 's  senses.  Staggering  to 
his  feet,  for  he  was  cramped  from  long,  tense 


156     THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

stooping,  he  hurried  out  into  the  moonlight  in 
pursuit. 

The  double  dose  of  laudanum,  following  so  soon 
on  its  predecessor,  had  already  begun  to  work 
upon  mind  and  body.  It  was  strangely  easy  to 
move.  And  the  night  was  very  beautiful.  More 
beautiful  than  any  the  world  had  ever  known.  A 
night  of  the  gods ;  and  he,  a  god,  in  full  possession 
of  its  glories.  He  must  share  its  beauties,  its  in- 
toxicating wonders,  with  some  one.  There  was  Vil- 
lars!  How  opportunely  he  happened  to  be  there 
at  the  moment !  But  then,  everything  was  oppor- 
tune, perfect. 

"  Villars,"  he  murmured,  touching  the  other's 
shoulder,  and  there  was  a  dreamy  ecstasy  in  his 
voice  that  the  Count's  swift  start  and  look  of 
alarm  could  not  mar,  "  Villars!  Did  you  ever 
know  there  could  be  such  a  night  as  this?  You 
look  like  a  Greek  god,  posing  here  in  the  moon- 
light. I  wonder  I  never  before  realized  what  a 
classic  face  and  splendid  figure  you  have!  Look 
there  to  the  left.  Do  you  see  that  bright  track 
over  the  river,  leading  straight  to  within  a  few 
feet  of  the  farther  bank!  I  always  used  to  think 
that  track  was  made  of  moonlight.  But  it  is  not. 
It  is  of  silver — purest  silver.  And  you  and  I  are 
going  to  be  the  first  mortals  to  walk  across  it. ' ' 

As  he  had  been  speaking,  Thurso  had  continued 
to  move  toward  the  river,  drawing  the  dum- 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      157 

founded  Villars  along  with  a  grip  from  which 
there  was  no  escaping.  They  neared  the  bank. 

( '  To  think ! ' '  murmured  Thurso  in  utter  ecstasy, 
"  that  it  should  have  been  reserved  for  us  two, 
of  all  the  world,  to  be  the  first  to  pass  along  that 
silver  track.  Don 't  hesitate,  man !  It 's  the  heaven- 
sent chance  of  a  lifetime." 

For  Villars,  with  his  foot  on  the  sloping  brink, 
had  sought  to  draw  back.  But  his  strength  was 
puny  and  useless  against  the  mad  power  of  his 
guide. 

' '  Have  no  fear !  ' '  laughed  Thurso, ' '  I  will  hold 
you  in  safety.  Come !  ' 

Up  to  his  knees  the  frightened  Austrian  was 
dragged  into  the  cold  water.  He  could  not  swim, 
and  the  black  depths  before  him  yawned  menac- 
ingly. The  madman,  a  rapt  look  on  his  white  face, 
took  no  note  of  the  water,  but  pressed  on.  A  last 
futile  struggle,  a  gasping  cry  of  horror  from  Vil- 
lars, and  the  river  had  risen  to  their  waists. 

"  Thurso!  " 

It  was  Lily's  voice.  Standing  on  the  bank,  her 
loose  white  dressing  gown  fluttering  in  the  night 
breeze,  she  called  gently,  yet  commandingly. 

The  Earl  turned. 

"It  is  a  goddess !  "  he  muttered ;  ' ;  Venus 
Anodyomene!  " 

Releasing  the  trembling  Count,  he  stumbled 
blindly  back  to  shore. 


CHAPTER   VI 

MAUD  was  lying  in  a  long  chair  on  the  lawn  the 
next  afternoon,  defending  Christian  Science 
from  the  tongues  of  the  mockers,  of  whom  there 
were  many.  She  had  an  ally,  it  is  true,  in  Alice 
Yardly,  who  in  her  big  hat  and  white  dress  with 
a  blue  sash,  looked  like  a  doubtful  Eomney,  and 
was  smiling,  literally,  with  all  her  might.  The 
more  the  mockers  mocked  the  kinder  and  wider 
grew  her  smile.  As  an  ally,  however,  Maud  for 
her  part  would  sooner  have  done  battle  alone,  for 
Alice  was  rather  of  the  nature  of  an  ally  whose 
main  work  was  to  reveal  to  the  enemy  the  weak 
points  in  the  fortifications  and  the  undefended 
angles.  Wherever — so  Maud  felt — there  was  any 
possible  difficulty  in  "  the  scheme  of  things  en- 
tire "  Alice  Yardly  was  there  waving  a  large 
cheerful  flag  to  call  attention  to  it. 

11  No,  I'm  not  a  Christian  Scientist,  Thurso," 
said  Maud,  "  and  I  only  told  you  all  at  lunch, 
because  I  thought  it  would  interest  you  what  I 
actually  saw.  Sandy,  the  nurse  said,  was  abso- 
lutely dying,  and  though  it  was  really  no  use,  she 
wanted  Dr.  Symes  to  be  sent  for.  Well,  I  didn't 
send  for  him,  but  I  went  up  with  Mr.  Cochran, 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      159 

and  I  saw  Mr.  Cochran  pull  Sandy  out  of  the 
jaws  of  death." 

"Be  fair,  Maud,"  said  Thurso;  "tell  them 
what  Dr.  Symes  said  when  he  came  next  morn- 
ing." 

"  I  was  going  to:  he  said  he  had  known  cases 
where  the  temperature  went  suddenly  down  from 
high  fever  to  below  normal,  and  it  did  not  mean 
perforation.  It  meant  simply  what  it  was — the 
sudden  cessation  of  fever  and  nothing  else. ' ' 

Alice  Yardly  leaned  forward. 

"  Mortal  mind  had  caused  the  fever  origi- 
nally, ' '  she  said,  *  *  and  it  was  the  belief  that  mor- 
tal mind  had  caused  it  that  Mr.  Cochran  made 
Sandy  perceive.  So  he  was  able  to  throw  off 
the  false  claim  that  he  had  fever,  knowing  that  he 
couldn't  have  fever  since  fever  is  evil,  and  Infi- 
nite Love  cannot  send  evil  to  anybody.  It  was 
knowing  that  that  made  his  temperature  go 
down,  and  let  him  get  well.  It  was  only  with 
his  mortal  mind  that  the  fever  could  be  perceived, 
since  there  is  no  real  sensation  in  matter,  just  as 
he  had  caught  it  originally  through  mortal  mind. 
But  Immortal  Mind  knows  there  is  no  sensa- 
tion in  matter  and  so  no  disease;  as  David  said: 
'  Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  for  the  terror  by 
night,  nor  for  the  arrow  that  flieth  by  day,'  and 
when  Sandy  by  the  truth  of  immortal  mind  per- 


160      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

ceived  that,  of  course  the  false  claim  of  temper- 
ature ceased  and  it  went  down." 

Maud  gave  a  sigh,  not  of  impatience  but  of  very 
conscious  patience,  which  is  near  akin  to  it. 

"  Darling  Alice,"  she  said,  "  you  haven't  un- 
derstood a  single  word  from  the  beginning;  Mr. 
Cochran  didn't  make  his  temperature  go  down." 

"  No,  of  course  not,"  said  Alice,  "  it  was 
trust  in  Immortal  Mind  that  did  that,  for  as  soon 
as  Sandy  perceived " 

Maud  sat  up  and  clapped  her  hands. 

"  I  will  finish  one  sentence  just  for  once," 
she  cried.  "  You  don't  understand:  it  was  the 
suolden  subsidence  of  temperature  that  was  the 
dangerous  symptom.  Mr.  Cochran  demonstrated 
because  Sandy's  temperature  had  gone  down.  He 
had  nothing  to  do  with  bringing  it  down. ' ' 

Alice's  smile  suffered  no  diminution. 

"  Fever  cannot  be  sent  by  Immortal  Mind," 
she  said,  "  because  fever  is  evil,  and  the  belief 
in  it  is  a  function  of  mortal  mind.  No  evil  can 
happen  to  any  one  who  roots  out  the  beliefs  of 
mortal  mind,  and  no  drug  can  have  any  effect, 
beneficial  or  harmful,  unless  the  person  who  takes 
it  believes  with  mortal  mind  in  its  effect." 

Thurso  entered  the  arena. 

11  Then  if  I  thought  that  large  quantities  of 
prussic  acid  for  breakfast  would  be  good  for  me, 
they  would  be  good  for  me?  "  he  said. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     161 

"  If  you  drink  any  deadly  thing  it  shall  not 
hurt  you,"  quoted  Alice. 

"  My!  "  said  Theodosia,  "  you'd  better  be- 
come a  Christian  Scientist  at  once,  Silas.  Silas 
adores,  he  just  adores,  English  beer,  but  it's  ab- 
solute poison  to  him.  Now,  Lady  Yardly,  how 
did  he  get  the  idea  that  English  beer  was  poison 
to  him?  It  disagreed  with  him  from  the  first 
moment  he  put  his  lips  to  it. ' ' 

"  Theodosia,"  began  Silas.  But  he  was  not 
permitted  to  continue. 

11  Intoxicant  drinks  are  in  themselves  evil 
things,"  said  Alice.  "  You  will  find  that  in  Mrs. 
Eddy's  miscellaneous  writings.  I  never  touch 
them." 

Count  Villars  joined  in. 

"  That  is  taken  to  prove  it?  "he  asked  politely. 
"  Is  Mrs.  Eddy  always  inspired?  Cannot  she 
have  attacks  of  error  or  mortal  mind?  Is  it  not, 
as  Oliver  Cromwell  said,  just  possible  that  Mrs. 
Eddy  made  a  mistake?  I  should  have  thought 
one  might  find  instances  where  intoxicating  fluids 
had  possibly  saved  life  in  cases  of  exhaustion  or 
exposure  to  cold." 

Maud  broke  in  again. 

"  Dear  Alice,  you  are  leading  everybody  away 
from  the  point,  you  know, ' '  she  said ;  ' '  you  really 
do  go  on  saying  '  Cuckoo,  cuckoo,'  long  after 
the  hour  has  struck.  I  want  to  talk  about  one 


1(52      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

thing,  and  you  are  encouraging  Thurso  and  Count 
Villars  to  talk  about  others.  I  did  see,  and  I  stick 
to  it,  I  did  see  a  man,  who  was  past  human  power, 
pulled  back  into  life  by  Mr.  Cochran.  Also — I 
have  only  his  word  for  it,  but  that  seems  to  me 
a  very  sound  thing,  as  you  would  all  think  if  you 
knew  him — he  told  me  he  was  demonstrating  over 
the  whole  outbreak  of  fever.  Well,  no  fresh  case 
occurred  after  he  had  begun  doing  that. ' ' 

"  My!  "  said  Theodosia  again,  "  I  wish  he 
would  come  to  New  York  when  the  influenza  was 
about.  I  guess  influenza  needs  a  lot  of  demonstra- 
tion. Why,  if  there  isn't  the  motor  coming  round, 
and  I'm  not  ready  yet." 

Thurso  got  up  too. 

"  Well,  who  wants  to  go  over  to  Windsor,  and 
who  wants  to  go  on  the  river,  and  who  wants  to 
do  nothing!  "  he  asked. 

This  broke  up  the  conference,  as  it  was  de- 
signed to  do.  Count  Villars  and  Lady  Yardly 
expressed  a  preference  for  the  river,  Thurso  and 
Theodosia  with  her  husband  went  to  Windsor, 
Ruby  Majendie  and  Jim  had  already  vanished, 
and  Lord  Yardly  murmured  something  about  let- 
ters and  went  toward  the  house.  In  consequence, 
Maud  and  her  sister-in-law,  both  of  whom  pre- 
ferred to  do  nothing  whatever,  were  left  alone. 
There  had  been  a  certain  design  about  this, 
though  successfully  veiled,  on  Lily's  part.  She 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      163 

wanted  to  talk  to  Maud,  and  very  gentle  hinting 
had  been  sufficient  to  make  other  people  choose 
other  things.  Count  Villars  seemed  disposed  to 
reconsider  the  respective  values  of  the  river  and 
the  lawn  when  he  realized  what  the  disposition 
of  the  party  was,  but  he  was  already  committed 
and  did  not  attempt  diplomatic  evasions  which 
would  have  deceived  nobody. 

The  rest  of  the  party  dispersed  in  their  vari- 
ous directions,  and  it  was  not  till  the  motor  had 
crunched  the  drive,  and  the  steam  launch  puffed 
its  way  past  the  yew  hedge,  that  Lily  spoke 
again. 

"  Tell  me  more  about  this  Mr.  Cochran,"  she 
said. 

Maud  was  already  half -immersed  in  her  book: 
she  had  been  quite  unconscious  of  Lily's  diplo- 
macy. She  started,  however,  when  the  question 
was  put  to  her,  and  flushed  a  little. 

"  There  really  is  no  more  to  tell,"  she  said. 
"  I  think  I  have  told  you  all.  By  the  way,  he  is 
coming  to  town  some  time  this  month.  You 
could  see  him  if  you  wanted.  He  did  cure  Sandy : 
also  he  cured  Duncan  Eraser's  wife.  I  am  con- 
vinced of  those  things.  Then  there  is  the  other 
fact:  the  typhoid  ceased  when  he,  so  to  speak, 
took  it  in  hand.  Of  course,  you  may  say  it  was  a 
coincidence:  you  may  say  that  those  cures,  too, 
were  coincidences.  But  when  coincidences  come 


164      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

in  a  bunch  like  that,  one  wonders  if  there  is  not 
some — well,  some  law — which  lies  behind  them 
and  accounts  for  them." 

She  paused  a  moment. 

"  A  lot  of  apples  and  other  things  fell  to  the 
ground, ' '  she  said, l '  and  Newton  deduced  the  law 
of  gravity  from  them." 

Lily  Thurso  lit  a  cigarette,  and  threw  the 
match  away  with  quite  unnecessary  vigor. 

'  *  What  a  fool  Alice  Yardly  is !  "  she  observed. 
11  She  is,  isn't  she?  Somehow  if  a  person  talks 
such  abject  nonsense  as  that  about  anything,  one 
concludes  that  the  subject  she  is  talking  about  is 
nonsense,  too.  But  it  doesn't  follow.  And  Mr. 
Cochran  doesn't  talk  nonsense?  "  she  asked. 

11  No.  He  isn't  the  least  nonsensical.  As  you 
see,  he  goes  and  cures  people  when  they  are  really 
ill,  instead  of,  well,  guessing.  He's  a  very  good 
fisherman,  too." 

Lily  could  not  help  laughing,  Maud  had  men- 
tioned this  in  a  voice  of  such  high  approval. 

"  But  isn't  that  inconsistent?  '  she  asked. 
"  If  you  don't  believe  in  the  reality  of  death,  it 
seems  to  me  odd  to  go  and  kill  things. ' ' 

"  Oh,  I  think  it's  inconsistent,"  said  Maud, 
"  and  so  does  he.  But  did  you  ever  see  anybody 
who  wasn't  inconsistent?  I  never  did.  I  never 
want  to,  either — he  would  be  so  very  dull.  Like 
a  chronometer." 


"  And  Mr.  Cochran  isn't?  ' 

Maud  raised  her  eyebrows,  and  dropped  the 
book  she  was  reading. 

11  Dear  Lily,"  she  said,  "  are  you  fishing?  " 

Lily  laughed  again. 

"  I  think  I  am,"  she  remarked. 

"  About  me?  Of  course,  I  will  tell  you  then 
and  save  you  the  trouble.  I  am  not  in  the  least 
in  love  with  Mr.  Cochran,  nor  have  I  the  smallest 
reason  to  believe  that  he  is  in  love  with  me.  That 
was  the  sort  of  fishing  you  meant,  wasn't  it? 
Brutally  put,  was  it  that?  ' 

"  Yes,  to  be  frank.  Now  I  want  to  talk  about 
something  quite  different.  I  went  straight  to 
Thurso's  room  last  night  after  seeing  you.  He 
had  just  taken  laudanum.  Not  because  he  had 
any  pain.  He  told  me  so.  But  he  let  me  pour 
the  rest  of  it  out  of  the  window,  which  I  did. ' ' 

For  obvious  reasons  Lady  Thurso  omitted  all 
mention  of  her  action's  sequel. 

Maud's  face,  which  had  been  one  of  amused 
merriment  at  her  accurate  conjecture  as  to  her 
sister-in-law's  fishing,  grew  quite  grave  again. 

11  That  is  something,"  she  said. 

"  Yes,  it  is  a  bit  of  cotton  wool  with  chloro- 
form on  it,  which  you  put  into  a  decayed  tooth, 
to  stop  its  aching,"  she  said.  "  But  what  after- 
wards? Something  permanent  has  to  be  done." 


166      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

Lily  bent  forward  and  picked  up  the  book  that 
Maud  had  let  fall. 

"  Advise  me,  dear  Maud,"  she  said. 

"  You  are  troubled  about  it?  '  she  asked. 
11  You  are  really  troubled?  I  was  too,  by  the 
way,  but  all  this  delicious  week  in  London  made 
me  forget." 

"  I  am  horribly  troubled,"  said  Lily.  "  I — I 
am  troubled  all  round.  Do  talk — do  reassure  me. 
You  are  so  simple  and  straightforward." 

This  was  quite  true.  Maud  was  possessed  of 
a  well-spring  of  transcendent  honesty ;  sometimes 
she  found  that  to  be  a  convenient  gift,  because 
people  trusted  her;  sometimes  it  was  incon- 
venient, since  she  had  to  live  up  to  it,  and  at  this 
moment  was  forced  to  reconsider  a  recent  state- 
ment of  hers. 

"  Oh,  Lily,  how  tiresome  you  are!  "  she  said, 
in  a  tone  of  deep  reproach.  "  I  tell  you  the 
truth,  as  far  as  I  can,  then  you  probe  me  further. 
At  least  I  suppose  you  are  fishing  again." 

Lily  smiled. 

"  I  was  not,  but  I  am,"  she  said.  "  What  is 
it?" 

"  Oh,  it's  me,"  said  Maud  despairingly.  "  It's 
me  and  our  Mr.  Cochran.  Lily,  I  do  like  him 
awfully;  I  like  him  most  awfully.  No  one  has 
ever  attracted  me  like  that.  I — I  could  put  all 
my  affairs  into  his  hands  with  the  utmost  con- 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      167 

fidence.  He  is  so  strong,  you  know.  We  women 
want  somebody  awfully  strong,  don't  we?  Some- 
body who  would  make  you  go  on  playing  Bridge 
in  the  middle  of  an  earthquake.  Well,  he  is  like 
that.  I  said  I  was  not  in  love  with  him.  I  thought 
it  was  true — but  I  don't  know.  Perhaps  being 
in  love  means  that.  You  see,  it  has  never  hap- 
pened before  to  me.  I  can't  recognize  it,  or  say 
'  This  is  love,'  because  I  haven't  seen  it  before. 
But  you  can  tell  me.  When  you  said  you  would 
marry  Thurso,  was  it  that,  or  something  like  that? 
Oh,  dear,  poor  Mr.  Cochran!  He  hasn't  shown 
the  slightest  inclination  to  ask  me  to  marry  him. ' ' 

There  was  a  fine  irony  about  this,  and  Lily 
Thurso,  despite  the  previous  discussion  on  Chris- 
tian Science,  felt  at  that  moment  much  inclined 
to  believe  in  the  inherent  malice  of  chance  ques- 
tions. But  her  answer  was  according  to  the  spirit, 
though  not  strictly  in  accordance  witE  the  letter. 

"  Give  him  his  chance  then,  Maud,"  she  said. 
"  I  think  entirely  as  you  do.  It  is  strength  that 
is  to  us  the  adorable  thing.  And  that, ' '  she  added 
with  sudden  adroitness,  "  is  what  bothers  me 
about  Thurso  just  now.  It  is  so  weak  to  allow 
yourself  to  make  habits  that  you  know  all  the 
time  are  harmful.  I  always  give  up  anything  I 
want  before  I  want  it  very  badly." 

There  was  irony  about  this,  too.  But  it  was 
necessarily  unperceived  by  Maud. 


168      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

"  You,  who  get  all  you  want!  "  she  said. 

Lily  got  up,  and  began  walking  up  and  down 
the  lawn  where  they  sat  that  bordered  the  deep 
flower  bed.  All  June  was  in  flower  then,  just  as 
in  herself  all  June  appeared  to  be  flowering.  It 
was  no  wonder  that  Maud  thought  that.  But  all 
the  emotional  baggage,  that  she  had  consistently 
thrown  away  all  her  life,  seemed  to  her  to  be 
coming  back  now,  returned  to  her  by  some  dread- 
ful dead-letter  office. 

"  Oh,  yes,  everybody  else  always  thinks  one  is 
happy,"  she  said,  "  if  one  has  good  teeth  and  a 
good  digestion,  and  rather  more  money  than  one 
really  wants  to  spend.  Do  you  think  I  am 
happy?  "  she  asked  suddenly. 

Maud  dropped  her  eyes. 

* '  No,  I  don 't,  if  again  you  fish  deep  for  what  I 
think,"  she  said. 

"  Then  you  are  two  people,"  said  Lily,  rather 
fiercely.  "  The  superficial  Maud,  and  another 
Maud  who  has  to  be  angled  for." 

"  Yes;  just  that,"  said  she.  "  And  so  are  you. 
And  so  is  everybody  who  is  worth  anything." 

Maud  paused  a  moment,  knowing  that  her  sis- 
ter-in-law hung  on  her  words,  and  wondered.  A 
couple  of  months  ago  she  would  not  have  known 
what  was  meant  by  there  being  two  Mauds.  But 
she  knew  now ;  those  weeks  in  Scotland  had  given 
her  the  deeper  self,  without  in  the  least  destroy- 


ing  the  more  superficial  self.  She  felt  the  joy  of 
morning  and  evening,  the  rapturous  expectation 
of  catching  sea-trout  just  as  keenly  as  ever,  but 
an  interior  life  had  awakened  in  her.  Lily,  with 
her  husband  and  her  children,  of  course  knew 
that;  she  had  no  fear  of  being  misunderstood. 

"  I  used  to  envy  you  so,  Lily,"  she  said,  "  for 
I  thought  that  the  '  you  '  which  all  the  world 
knew  and  admired  was  all  there  was.  But  since 
—well,  yes,  since  I  have  fallen  in  love,  I  know 
there  is  a  more  real  you  than  that ;  a  '  you  '  that 
is  more  essential.  I  don't  think  that  that  part 
of  you  is  happy,  any  more  than  Thurso  is  happy. ' ' 

Lily  sat  down  again,  and  before  she  spoke  she 
thought  over  her  words. 

* '  I  would  give,  or  give  up,  a  great  deal  to  make 
Thurso  happy,"  she  said.  "  But  I  don't  think 
we  are  happy  together.  I  get  on  his  nerves." 

Maud  looked  up  at  her,  as  if  waiting  for  more. 
More  came. 

"  And  he  bores  me,"  said  Lily. 

There  was  a  long  silence;  bees  visited  the  flow- 
ers, making  them  bend  and  sway  and  murmur 
to  their  buzzing;  a  grasshopper  clicked  and 
whirred  on  the  lawn,  swifts  swooped  and  chided 
together  in  sliding  companies.  Then,  such  is  the 
tragic  habit  of  the  world,  it  struck  them  both  how 
unlike  themselves,  unlike  the  ordinary  present- 
ment of  themselves,  that  is  to  say,  they  were 


170     THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

being,  and  simultaneously  they  swam  up  out  of 
their  subaqueous  depths.  But  the  return  to  nor- 
mal life  was  short;  they  soon  went  down  again, 
since  those  who  once  have  met  below  always  go 
back  there.  It  is  only  those  who  have  talked  in- 
sincerely on  deep  matters  who  prefer  to  meet  on 
the  surface.  But  a  few  surface  remarks  fol- 
lowed. 

"  It  is  always  one's  own  fault  if  one  is  bored," 
said  Lily.  ' l  It  shows  only  that  a  bore  is  present, 
who  is  probably  one's  self.  Yet,  Maud,  if  I  tell 
him  about  all  the  bazaars  and  sales  and  so  on, 
he  is  bored.  And  they  do  make  up  a  big  part  of 
my  life." 

"  On  the  surface,"  said  she,  "  if  we  are  being 
frank. ' ' 

' '  No,  not  on  the  surface ;  the  deepest  and  most 
real  part  of  me  is  sorry  for  poor  things,  and  it 
expresses  itself  thus.  And  it  is  exactly  that  which 
gets  on  his  nerves.  If  I  get  up  from  lunch  before 
I  have  eaten  anything,  because  I  have  to  go  to 
something  of  the  sort,  I  get  on  his  nerves  by 
doing  so.  He  thinks  I  am  restless.  In  a  way, 
I  am  restless.  I  want  to  do  something  for  other 
people  rather  than  eat  cutlets  myself.  What  do 
you  want  me  to  do?  What  does  he  want  me  to 
do?  Eat  opium  instead  with  him?  " 

Maud  gave  a  long  sigh. 

1 '  Oh,  that  was  a  pity, ' '  she  said. 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      171 

"  Yes,  it  was  a  pity;  our  attitude  toward  each 
other  is  a  pity.  But  let  us  be  practical.  I  always 
want  to  be  practical.  What  am  I  to  do  about  a 
hundred  things?  " 

Lily  got  up  again.  She  was,  as  she  had  said, 
always  practical,  and  she  was  always  restless. 
This  afternoon,  in  particular,  after  her  incon- 
clusive watchfulness  of  the  night  before,  she 
longed  to  pin  herself  down,  or  to  be  pinned  down 
to  a  course  of  conduct.  She  wanted  a  definite  pol- 
icy, and  though  she  never  had  consulted  Maud  be- 
fore, she  had  an  idea  that  Maud,  as  she  was  now, 
might  perhaps  indicate  one.  And  again  the  bees 
buzzed  and  swayed  in  the  flowers.  There  came  a 
crisper  sound,  the  sound  of  crunched  gravel;  the 
gate  swung  open,  and  a  dog-cart  drew  up  at  the 
front  door,  some  fifty  yards  from  where  they 
were  sitting.  There  was  a  young  man  in  it,  who 
held  the  horse's  bridle,  while  with  the  other  hand 
he  rang  the  bell.  He  waited  a  reasonable  time, 
and  then  rang  again. 

' '  I  will  see  what  it  is, ' '  said  Lady  Thurso,  and 
walked  across  the  lawn  to  the  house.  But  as  she 
went  her  heart  sank,  she  already  guessed  by  a 
sort  of  intuition,  for  her  guess  could  be  founded 
upon  no  process  of  reasoning  what  was  coming. 

She  had  a  word  with  the  driver,  who  put  a 
small  package  into  her  hand,  and  touched  his  hat 


172      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

and  went  off  again.  Then  Lady  Thurso  came 
back  to  where  Maud  was  sitting. 

"It  is  directed  to  Thurso,"  she  said,  "  and 
it  is  from  that  chemist  in  Windsor." 

Maud  did  not  reply  at  once. 

"  Yes;  open  it  carefully,"  she  said,  "  so  that 
if  it  is  not  what  we  think  we  can  do  it  up  again. 
It  seems  rather  mean,  but  I  don't  care.  I'll  open 
it,  if  you  like." 

Lily  seemed  to  think  this  unnecessary,  and  un- 
did it  herself.  There  was  a  bottle  of  dark  blue 
glass  inside,  with  a  red  label  of  "  Poison  "  on  it. 
It  had  a  glass  stopper,  and  she  drew  this  out  and 
smelled  it.  Then  she  passed  it  to  Maud. 

Maud  put  the  stopper  back  in  the  bottle, 
squeezed  up  the  paper  and  string  in  which  it  had 
been  wrapped  into  a  tight  ball,  and  threw  it  deep 
into  the  flower  bed.  Then  she  went  to  the  open- 
ing in  the  yew  hedge  and  flung  the  bottle  itself 
into  mid-stream. 

Then  she  came  back  to  her  sister-in-law,, 

"  So  we've  both  had  a  hand  in  it."  she  said. 
"  And  last  night  he  let  you  throw  the  stuff  out 
of  the  window,  and  the  very  next  day  goes  and 
orders  some  more.  Poor,  dear  old  boy!  He 
must  have  ordered  it  when  he  went  in  with  Theo- 
dosia  after  lunch  to-day.  Oh,  Lily,  you  asked 
just  now  what  you  were  to  do.  There's  some- 
thing for  you  to  do!  Somehov  stop  that!  ' 


"It  is  directed  to  Thurso,"  she  said,  "and  it  is  from  that  chemist 
in  Windsor."     Chapter  VI. 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      173 

"  How!  " 

"  I  don't  know.  We  must  find  a  way.  Any 
means,  fair  or  foul,  is  fair.  It's  ruin,  its  damna- 
tion! And  that  bottle:  do  we  know  anything 
about  it  or  not?  ' 

The  practical  side  of  Lily  came  to  the  fore. 

"  The  chemist's  man  will  say  he  gave  it  me," 
she  said,  * '  but  there  is  no  reason  why  you  should 
come  into  it." 

' '  Ah,  give  me  my  share.  Let  me  help  if  I  can, ' ' 
said  Maud  quickly. 

11  Of  course,  you  can  help,  though  I  am  willing 
to  bear  the  whole  responsibility  of  what  we  have 
done,"  said  Lily. 

' '  No,  I  want  it  to  come  from  both  of  us, ' '  said 
Maud,  "  if  you  think  that  is  any  use." 

The  utmost.  You  have  more  weight  with  him 
than  I  have." 

"  Ah,  then  let  me  help,"  said  Maud,  "  and, 
Lily,  we  won't  let  him  find  out  what  we  have 
done.  Let  us  tell  him." 

"  He  will  be  furious,"  said  Lily. 

"  He  will  be  more  rightly  furious  if  he  is  left 
to  ferret  it  out  for  himself.  Then  he  will  con- 
front us  with  what  we  have  done,  instead  of  our 
confronting  him.  Besides,  we  don't  want  to  con- 
ceal what  we  have  done,  even  if  we  could.  We 
are  not  ashamed  of  it.  We  would  do  it  again; 


174      THE   HOUSEOF DEFENCE 

we  would  do  anything  to  prevent  such  bottles 
reaching  him." 

People  began  to  gather  again  soon  after  this. 
Count  Villars  and  his  companion  returned  from 
the  river,  Lord  Yardly,  looking  considerably  re- 
freshed, as  if  his  letter-writing  had  been  some 
unconscious  recuperative  process,  came  out  from 
indoors,  and  a  few  people  from  neighboring 
houses  motored  or  drove  over  for  tea,  and  when 
Thurso  and  the  two  Americans  returned  from 
Windsor  there  was  a  considerable  gathering  on 
the  lawn.  He  went  into  the  house  before  joining 
the  others,  and  was  away  some  minutes,  during 
which  they  could  hear  a  bell  ring  furiously  within. 
Lily's  and  Maud's  eyes  met  over  this,  and  when 
a  few  minutes  later  Thurso  came  out,  again  a 
moment's  silent  telegraphy  passed  between  them, 
and  Maud  got  up  and  went  straight  to  him  as 
he  came  across  the  lawn.  Lily  could  not  leave 
her  guests  and  the  tea-table,  but  she  watched 
them.  They  were  not  far  distant,  and  Thurso 's 
face  was  towards  her.  She  saw  it  go  suddenly 
white,  as  it  did  when  he  was  angry,  and  then  he 
turned  and  went  back  towards  the  house  again, 
without  joining  them.  He  did  not  go  in,  but 
walked  down  the  road  that  led  to  the  stables. 

Some  minutes  later  Thurso  was  urging  his  cob 
mercilessly  toward  Windsor.  .The  first  flame  of 
anger  against  his  sister  and  Lily  for  robbing  him 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      175 

of  his  latest  supply  of  the  drug  was  fast  merging 
into  suspense  as  to  whether  the  chemist  had  kept 
the  prescription  for  it  or  had  returned  it  with  the 
bottle. 

In  the  latter  case,  of  course,  prescription  and 
phial  must  have  been  thrown  away  together;  and 
the  problem  of  securing  a  new  prescription  arose. 

Arrived  at  the  chemist's  lie  was  out  of  the  cart 
at  a  bound  and,  passing  under  the  colored  lamp, 
gained  the  interior  of  the  shop. 

An  assistant  hurried  forward  to  wait  on  him. 
The  Earl  glanced  nervously  about,  but  the  man 
who  had  put  up  the  prescription  for  him  was  not 
in  sight. 

"  Where  is  your  employer?  "  asked  Thurso 
brusquely. 

"  Mr.  Deckle?  He's  at  his  tea,  sir.  Can 
I ?" 

11  I  left  a  prescription  with  him.  Does  he  send 
prescriptions  with  his  packages  or  does  he  keep 
them  on  file?  " 

"  The  originals  are  sent,  sir.  But  copies  are 
kept  on  file. ' ' 

' '  Very  good.    Please  duplicate  my— 

"I'm  sorry,  sir,  but  I'm  not  a  prescription 
clerk.  I  am  not  qualified  to— 

11  Is  there  another  chemist's  near  here?  " 

11  Only  one,  sir.    About  a  half  mile  down  the 


176      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

High  Street.  But  Mr.  Deckle  will  be  back  in  an 
hour  or " 

Thurso  did  not  wait  to  hear  the  end  of  the 
apologetic  explanation.  Five  minutes  later  he  was 
at  the  second  chemist's — a  less  pretentious  shop 
in  a  poorer  locality. 

An  elderly  man  with  bleared,  near-sighted  eyes 
was  in  charge  of  the  place.  It  was  evident  from 
his  greeting  that  the  Earl  was  a  stranger  to  him. 
This  fact  gave  Thurso  a  desire-born  inspiration. 
Fumbling  in  his  pockets  he  muttered: 

"  How  very  annoying!  I've  left  my  prescrip- 
tion pad  in  another  coat.  Give  me  a  blank." 

A  less  near-sighted  or  more  observant  man  than 
the  chemist  must  have  noted  the  furtive,  over- 
anxious look  of  the  pseudo-physician.  But  the 
shopkeeper  without  suspicion  laid  before  his  cus- 
tomer the  required  blank  and  fountain  pen. 

Thurso,  by  a  supreme  effort  of  memory,  recalled 
the  exact  terms,  phraseology  and  appearance  of 
his  missing  prescription,  and  with  laborious  care- 
lessness began  to  write  the  duplicate. 

"So  you're  a  physician,  sir?"  queried  the 
chemist,  with  the  garrulity  of  an  old  and  solitary 
man. 

Thurso  nodded,  relieved  at  the  credulity  in  his 
interlocutor's  voice. 

"  Then,"  pursued  the  other,  "  maybe  you 
wouldn't  mind  deciding  a  bit  of  a  dispute  me  and 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      177 

my  assistant  had  this  morning.  He's  studying 
surgery  and  he  thinks  he  knows  it  all.  It's  a  good 
many  years  since  I  dabbled  in  anything  of  the 
sort,  but  I  fancy  I  can  pose  him  yet.  Now,  the 
point  we  argued  was :  is  the  partial  paralysis  that 
sometimes  accompanies  cerebral  typhoid  a  true 
hemiplaegia  or  just  a  functional  symptom  of  the 
disease?  Now,  I  claim  that  it's  functional  and 
nothing  more.  But  that  thick  head  of  an  assist- 
ant  " 

''  You're  right.  Perfectly  right!  ''  broke  in 
Thurso,  his  palms  and  forehead  wet  with  nervous- 
ness at  the  dangerous  position  wherein  he  found 
himself.  He  bent  again  to  the  task  of  writing  the 
prescription,  his  hand  shaking  uncontrollably. 

The  clamor  of  fifty  voices  rising  suddenly  just 
outside  the  pharmacy  door  completed  his  confu- 
sion. He  turned  peevishly  to  learn  the  cause  of 
the  trouble  and  encountered  a  stream  of  excited 
men  and  boys  hastening  into  the  place,  all  talking, 
shouting  and  explaining  in  fifty  different  keys. 
In  the  midst  of  the  rabble  two  constables  bore  a 
groaning  figure  on  a  stretcher.  A  third  was  busy 
hustling  the  crowd  outdoors,  where  they  gathered 
flattening  their  noses  against  the  dingy  glass  and 
striving  to  peer  through  the  dim  recesses  within. 

"  Eun  over  by  a  motor  car  on  the  road  just  be- 
low, ' '  reported  one  of  the  constables  as  the  chem- 
ist hurried  from  behind  the  counter  and  began  to 


178      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

run  practised  fingers  over  the  writhing  navvy  on 
the  stretcher.  "  We  sent  for  a  doctor  but  he  was 
out,  and  the  surgeon  down  at  the  station  is  away 
on  another  accident  case.  So  we  brought  him  in 
here.  Any  bones  broken?  ' 

The  little  chemist  had  straightened  himself  up, 
and  now  spoke  in  a  sort  of  pleased  excitement. 

"  Yes,"  he  said.  "  Looks  to  me  like  a  com- 
pound fracture  of  the  tibia,  and  it's  bad  enough 
to  call  for  immediate  attention  if  he  wants  to  save 
his  leg.  You  're  lucky,  my  man !  "  he  resumed,  ad- 
dressing the  navvy,  "  for  there's  a  physician  right 
here  to  hand.  A  good  one,  too,"  he  added  with 
a  smirk  and  bow  to  the  horrified  Thurso,  "  to 
judge  from  his  knowledge  of  hemiplaegia.  Doctor, 
will  you  look  over  the  case?  I've  all  the  appli- 
ances here  for  bone-setting." 

The  constables  respectfully  made  way  for  the 
Earl.  The  suffering  man  on  the  stretcher  ceased 
to  groan  and  turned  on  him  bloodshot  eyes  that 
held  the  dumb  appeal  and  trust  of  a  hurt  dog. 
The  look  went  through  Thurso  like  a  white-hot 
iron.  He  stood  inert,  nerveless. 

"  Excuse  me,  sir!  "  said  the  chemist  timidly, 
'  *  but  I  think  there 's  no  time  to  wait.  The  man  is 
in  great  pain  and " 

Thurso 's  first  impulse  was  to  declare  that  he 
was  no  physician  and  that  the  chemist  had  been 
mistaken  in  thinking  he  had  claimed  to  be  one. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      179 

But  there,  on  the  counter,  lay  the  half- written  pre- 
scription to  give  him  the  lie.  There,  too,  at  his 
side,  were  three  officers  of  the  law.  Of  the  law 
that  he  had  transgressed  in  usurping  the  right  to 
practise  medical  lore.  His  brain  went  blank.  The 
navvy,  reading  bewilderment  in  his  glance,  broke 
out  again  in  a  series  of  nerve-wracking  moans. 
The  constables  looked  stolidly  expectant. 

For  the  moment,  Thurso's  craving  for  the  drug 
that  had  led  him  into  such  a  predicament  turned 
to  loathing.  He  felt  like  an  animal  in  a  trap. 

' '  Wait !  "  he  gasped,  his  voice  harsh  and  life- 
less. "  I — I  must  get  my  medical  chest." 

"  There's  no  need  of — "  began  the  chemist;  but 
Thurso  was  gone.  Snatching  up  his  half-finished 
prescription  he  was  out  of  the  door,  shouldering 
his  way  through  the  crowd  that  parted  respect- 
fully for  him,  gained  his  cart,  and  with  one  leap 
was  on  the  seat  and  driving  down  the  High  Street 
like  mad. 

Nor  did  he  pause  nor  look  back  until  he  turned 
the  sweating  horse  over  to  a  groom  at  his  own 

gate. 

******* 

Maud  came  back  to  the  tea-table,  dropped  into 
a  chair  next  Lily  and  waited  till  she  could  speak 
to  her. 

"  He  has  gone  back  to  Windsor  to  get  some- 


180      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

more,"  she  said.  "  He  would  not  listen  to  me. 
He  is  frightfully  angry  with  us." 

Lady  Thurso  just  nodded,  and  then,  since  what- 
ever private  tragedy  was  going  on  the  public 
comedy  had  to  be  kept  up,  she  devoted  herself 
again  to  a  hostess's  duties. 

Meantime  the  tinkle  of  drawing-room  philos- 
ophy went  on  round  her,  and  she  joined  in  it 
with  that  facility  that  was  always  hers. 

"  Yes,  it  is  quite  certain  we  must  have  some 
fad  which  for  the  time  being  we  take  as  the  most 
serious  thing  in  the  world,"  she  said  to  Lady 
Swindon,  who  had  come  down  the  river  from 
Cookham.  "  Two  years  ago,  do  you  remember, 
it  was  no  hats,  and  that  was  followed  by  the 
simple  life." 

Lady  Swindon  laughed. 

* '  I  know,  and  we  gave  that  up  because  it  proved 
to  be  so  frightfully  complicated, ' '  she  said.  ' '  One 
had  to  provide  two  sorts  of  lunches  and  two  sorts 
of  dinners  every  day,  one  for  the  simple  life 
people,  who  ate  lentils  and  all  the  most  expensive 
fruits,  but  no  meat,  and  one  for  the  complicated 
life,  which  didn't  mind  what  it  ate  as  long  as 
there  was  beef.  Swindon  always  ate  both,  to 
show  he  wasn't  bigoted  either  way.  Besides,  one 
really  couldn't  afford  it.  And  what  is  the  next 
fad,  darling  Lily?  You  always  are  half  through 
a  fad  before  anybody  else  has  heard  of  it. ' ' 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     181 

"  Deep  breathing  I  have  tried,"  said  Lady 
Thurso, ' '  but  it  takes  too  long.  You  see  you  can't 
talk  as  you  are  deep  breathing,  whereas  you  could 
when  you  were  eating  lentils.  Perhaps  it  will  be 
Christian  Science,  though,  do  you  know,  I  think 
the  real  thing  is  too  serious  and  sensible,  and  the 
spurious  thing  too  silly  ever  to  become  a  fad.  But 
ask  Maud  to  tell  you  about  Mr.  Cochran  and  the 
typhoid  up  in  Caithness." 

"  I  will.  And  where's  Thurso?  Isn't  he 
here?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  but  tea-time  isn't  his  hour.  Tear 
Theodosia?  " 

Theodosia  had  truly  American  ideas  about 
being  introduced.  It  was  her  custom  to  make  all 
her  guests  formally  known  to  each  other,  and  she 
expected  the  same  treatment. 

"  Kindly  introduce  me,  Lily,"  she  said. 

"  Lady  Swindon,  my  cousin,  Mrs.  Moreton." 

< l  Very  happy  to  make  your  acquaintance,  Lady 
Swindon,"  said  she,  "  and  don't  you  think  that 
Lady  Thurso 's  place  down  here  is  just  the  cun- 
ningest  you  ever  saw?  Why,  look  at  that  yew 
hedge!  It  must  have  been  planted  before  the 
flood  to  have  grown  like  that.  But  then  all  she 
has  is  just  perfect,  isn't  it?  My!  I  never  saw 
such  a  beautiful  black  pearl  as  that  you're  wear- 
ing. It  looks  as  if  it  came  straight  from  the 
Marquis  of  Anglesea  's  tie. ' ' 


182      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

"  Oh,  no,  I  inherited  it,"  said  Lady  Swindon 
rather  icily. 

"  That's  what  comes  of  being  an  English- 
woman," said  Theodosia.  "  You  inherit  things 
and  we  Ve  got  to  buy  them.  Silas  and  I  and  Lord 
Thurso  drove  to  Windsor  this  afternoon.  Do  you 
know  my  husband?  Ah,  he's  talking  to  Count 
Villars  over  there.  But  we  had  the  loveliest 
time;  I  never  saw  Windsor  before,  and  fancy  in- 
heriting that!  But  I'm  afraid  Lord  Thurso  is 
sick;  he  called  at  a  chemist's,  and  bought  some 
medicine  to  be  sent  back  here  at  once.  I  guess 
he  pined  for  that  medicine.  Has  he  come  out 
here?  No,  I  don't  see  him.  I  guess  he's  taking 
it  now.  Lily,  I  think  your  husband  is  the  loveliest 
man!  " 

Lily  got  up ;  the  whole  situation  was  beginning 
to  get  on  her  nerves  most  terribly.  Theodosia, 
with  her  frightfully  middle-class  manner,  was  on 
her  nerves;  it  was  on  her  nerves  too  that  Lady 
Swindon  should  think  that  Theodosia  was  a  typi- 
cal American,  whereas  she  was  a  parody,  the 
parody  with  which  Europe  (only  she  would  have 
called  it  Europe)  is  most  familiar.  And  Lady 
Swindon,  for  all  her  "  darling  Lily,"  was  one  of 
those  true  friends  who  like  knowing  your  weak 
points.  Theodosia,  as  she  was  aware,  as  she  got 
up  to  talk  to  other  of  her  guests,  was  a  weak 
point;  mention  of  Thurso 's  medicine  was  a  weak 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      183 

point;  Tlieodosia  touched  them  all  with  the  un- 
erring instinct  of  the  true  bungler.  And  with  the 
courage  that  wants  not  to  know  the  worst,  which 
is  so  much  superior  to  the  cowardice  that  thinks 
it  is  brave  when  it  asks  to  know  the  worst,  she 
deliberately  moved  out  of  ear-shot. 

Lady  Swindon  justified  her  position  as  a  true 
friend.  The  fads  which  she  had  been  so  eager 
to  hear  about  were  quite  dismissed.  She  pro- 
ceeded in  the  spirit  of  true  inquiry,  which  wants 
to  know. 

*  *  What  a  nice  afternoon  you  must  have  had !  ' 
she  said.    "  To  see  Windsor  for  the  first  time  is 
delightful,  is  it  not?    And  to  have  Lord  Thurso 
as  a  companion  is  delightful  at  any  time.     But 
he  is  not  ill,  is  he?  " 

11  He  seemed  hungry  for  that  chemist,"  said 
Theodosia,  "  and  he  seemed  just  starving  to  get 
back  here.  I'm  told  you  have  a  speed  limit  for 
motors  over  here,  but  if  we  didn't  exceed  it  I 
don't  see  the  use  of  your  having  one." 

Now  Lady  Swindon  was  not  malicious ;  she  was 
also  a  great  admirer  of  Lily's.  But  she  could 
not  resist  her  hideous  instinct  to  know,  to  be 
abreast  of  things,  which  in  London  ensures  a 
greater  success  than  other  and  more  agreeable 
qualities  give. 

*  *  Dear  Thurso, ' '  she  said, ' '  he  has  such  dread- 


184      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

ful  headaches.  No  wonder  he  wanted  his  medi- 
cine, if  he  had  one." 

' '  Silas  used  to  have  dreadful  headaches, ' '  said 
Theodosia.  "  They  arose  from  dyspepsia,  to 
which  he  is  a  martyr.  But  opium  always  unmar- 
tyred  him." 

"  Ah,  opium!  "  said  Lady  Swindon. 

"  Yes.  Why,  there's  Count  Villars.  Count 
Villars,  I  haven't  set  eyes  on  you  since  lunch. 
May  I  introduce  you  to  Lady  Swindon?  ' 

Villars  bowed. 

' '  I  think  we  were  introduced  some  years  ago, ' ' 
he  said.  "  How  are  you,  Lady  Swindon?  You 
have  come  down  from  Cookham?  ' 

Lady  Swindon  got  up,  turning  her  back  on 
Theodosia. 

11  Yes,  and  I  am  just  going  back  there,  rlow 
clever  of  you  to  remember  where  we  live !  Take 
me  to  my  boat,  will  you?  Let  us  walk  round  the 
garden  first." 

They  strolled  a  few  yards  down  the  path  be- 
tween the  two  tall  herbaceous  borders  before  she 
spoke. 

"  And  you  are  staying  here?  '  she  asked. 
11  How  do  you  find  Lily?  I  am  sure  you  walked 
together  last  night  after  dinner,  and  joined  old 
memories  on  to  the  present." 

But  she  had  met  her  match  this  time. 

"  Yes,  dear  lady,"  he  said,  "  we  found  that  the 


THE    HO  USE   OF   DEFENCE      185 

two  needed  no  link.  We  had  always  been  excellent 
friends,  and  found  that  we  remained  so.  As  al- 
ways, I  adore  her;  as  always,  she  receives  my 
adoration  from  her  infinite  height.  The  Madonna 
still  smiles  on  her  worshipper.  He  asks  no  more." 

For  the  moment  she  was  startled  from  her  role 
of  earnest  inquirer. 

"  Indeed,  I  thought  you  had  once  asked  more," 
she  said.  "  We  all  supposed  so." 

«  Tnere  is  no  limit  to  what  people  of  bril- 
liant and  vivid  imagination  may  not  suppose," 
said  he. 

She  could  not  help  smiling;  his  refusals  to  give 
direct  answers  were  always  so  very  silken. 

"  And  the  truth  always  exceeds  one's  imagina- 
tion, does  it  not?  "  she  said.  Then  she  sank  her 
voice. 

"  And  Thurso,"  she  went  on.  "  How  do  you 
think  he  is!  " 

Villars  looked  at  her  in  bland  surprise. 

"  Very  well,  surely,  is  he  not?  "  he  said. 

Lady  Swindon  was  afraid  there  was  no  more 
to  be  got  there.  She  made  the  best  of  it,  however. 

"  Oh,  I  am  so  glad,  so  very  glad,"  she  said. 

He  handed  her  into  her  launch. 

' '  Do  come  to  us  one  Sunday, ' '  she  begged.  ' '  I 
will  try  to  persuade  Lily  to  come  also," 

Lady  Swindon 's  departure  had  acted  as  a  sig- 
nal for  a  general  move,  and  when  he  got  back 


186      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

Lady  Thurso  was  just  saying  good-by  to  the  last 
of  her  guests.  As  the  last  carriage  drove  off,  the 
butler  spoke  to  her. 

"  His  lordship  begs  that  you  and  Lady  Maud 
will  go  to  his  room  as  soon  as  you  are  disengaged, 
my  lady,"  he  said. 

"  Tell  his  lordship  we  will  come  immediately. 
Ah,  Count  Villars,  we  were  going  on  the  river, 
were  we  not?  Could  you  wait  a  few  minutes? 
Thurso  wants  to  see  me  about  something." 

Maud  joined  her  from  the  lawn,  and  they  went 
together  to  Thurso 's  private  sitting-room  at  the 
end  of  the  house.  He  was  sitting  at  his  table  in 
the  window,  and  with  his  usual  courtesy  got  up 
as  they  entered.  On  the  table  in  front  of  him 
was  a  package  containing  a  bottle  of  dark  blue 
glass.  He  had  just  finished  undoing  this  when 
they  came  in. 

11  A  cigarette,  Lily!  "  he  said.  "  I  want  ten 
minutes'  talk." 

She  took  one;  he  waited  till  she  had  lit  it. 

' '  Maud  tells  me  that  you  and  she  undid  a  pack- 
age that  arrived  here  this  afternoon,  addressed 
to  me,  and  threw  it  away.  Are  either  of  you  in 
the  habit  of  doing  such  things,  may  I  ask?  Do 
you  open  other  people's  letters?  ' 

"  Thurso,  don't  be  a  fool,"  said  Maud  quietly. 

His  face  went  very  white  for  a  moment. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      187 

"  Maud,  I  am  trying  to  be  courteous.  You 
might  make  an  effort  to  follow  my  example." 

"  Is  it  courteous  to  ask  Lily  and  me  if  we  open 
other  people's  letters?  "  she  asked. 

11  It  seems  to  me  that  your  behavior  this  after- 
noon warrants  my  question. ' ' 

11  No,  Thurso,  it  does  not,"  said  Lily,  "  and 
you  know  it. ' ' 

He  looked  first  at  one,  then  at  the  other,  and 
his  hand  moved  slowly  towards  the  bottle  on  the 
table. 

"  I  don't  want  to  make  a  scene  with  either  of 
you,"  he  said,  "  and  I  don't  want  to  detain  you. 
But  I  require  you  both  to  promise  never  again 
to  act  in  such  a  way.  You  are  absolutely  unjus- 
tified in  touching  or  interfering  with  my  things 
in  this  way,  from  whatever  motive.  And  your 
interference  has  done  no  good,  as  you  see,  in  this 
instance,  and  will  do  no  good  in  any  other.  You 
will  merely  oblige  me  to  adopt  methods  as  under- 
hand as  your  own." 

"  There  was  nothing  underhand,"  said  Lily; 
"  we  were  going  to  tell  you  what  we  had  done. 
Maud  did  tell  you." 

"  It  was  inevitable  that  I  should  find  out," 
said  he. 

"  That  was  immaterial,"  said  Maud.  "  Even 
if  you  could  never  have  found  out  otherwise,  we 
should  have  told  you." 


188      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

"  Ah!  "  said  he. 

Maud  looked  at  him  with  amazement.  She  had 
been  told  by  Lily  this  afternoon  that  there  were 
two  Mauds ;  here  indeed  was  a  Thurso  whom  she 
would  scarcely  have  known  for  her  brother.  He 
was  fundamentally  different,  while  his  quiet  man- 
ner and  superficial  conduct  were  the  same.  But 
this  new  Thurso  was  as  if  a  devil  possessed  him ; 
she  felt,  too,  that  he  hated  her. 

In  his  one  word  of  reply  there  was  an  ocean 
of  incredulity. 

11  You  don't  believe  what  I  say?  "  she  asked. 

He  was  silent,  he  smiled  a  little,  and  raised  his 
eyebrows.  There  was  no  need  for  him  to  speak; 
his  meaning  was  perfectly  clear. 

"  Then  what  is  the  use  of  our  giving  you  any 
promise  for  the  future,  if  you  don't  believe  what 
we  say?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  ask  for  your  promise,  however,"  he  said. 

"  And  if  we  don't  give  it  you?  "  asked  Lily. 

"  I  shall  merely  have  to  find  some  other  way 
of  getting  things  delivered,  so  that  you  do  not 
intercept  them,"  he  said. 

There  was  nothing  more  to  be  said  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  they  sat  in  silence  a  moment.  Then 
Maud  spoke. 

"  I  promise,"  she  said.    "  It  is  no  good  refus- 
ing." 
""  And  I,"  said  Lily. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     189. 

Thurso  put  his  hand  to  his  head  suddenly  with 
a  gesture  he  could  not  control. 

"  Then  shall  we  agree  never  to  say  a  word 
more  on  this  very  unpleasant  subject!  "  he  said. 
"  And  now,  Lily,  and  you,  Maud,  listen.  I  am 
suffering  so  hideously  at  this  present  moment 
that  I  hardly  know  what  I  am  saying — agitation, 
anger,  and  so  on  brought  on  this  afternoon  the 
worst  pain  I  have  ever  had.  I  very  likely  should 
not  have  taken  laudanum  from  that  bottle  you 
threw  away;  anyhow,  I  should  have  struggled 
hard  not  to.  I  struggled  yesterday,  with  the  re- 
sult that  I  allowed  Lily  to  pour  away  all  I  had  in 
the  house.  But  I  am  not  going  to  struggle  now; 
the  pain  is  absolutely  intolerable,  and  it  was 
brought  on,  as  far  as  I  know,  by  what  you  did. 
Your  interference  has  not  done  the  slightest  good ; 
it  has  only  given  me  an  hour  of  hell.  I  have 
thought  and  said  abominable  things  of  you  both 
in  this  last  hour.  My  only  excuse  is  that  I  am 
in  torments.  I  beg  the  forgiveness  of  both  of 
you. ' ' 

Here  was  the  real  Thurso  again,  looking  out 
like  a  soul  in  prison,  trying  to  burst  through  the 
bars,  and  it  was  indescribably  pathetic.  Both 
women  were  melted  with  pity  for  him;  and  Lily 
got  up  and  came  to  him. 

"  Ah,  Thurso,  of  course  we  forgive  you,"  she 
said;  "  but  to-morrow  you  will  go  on  fighting 


190      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

against  this,  won't  you?  "  and  she  pointed  to  the 
bottle.  "  It's — it's  damnation,  you  know." 

He  looked  at  her  with  agonized  eyes. 

"  I  will  do  my  best,"  he  said.  "  Now,  go! 
Make  my  excuses  to  the  others,  if  I  don't  appear 
at  dinner.  But  I  will  come  if  I  am  fit. ' ' 

The  two  went  out  together,  but  before  the  door 
was  closed  they  heard  the  clink  of  glass. 


CHAPTER  VII 

IT  was  a  chill  November  afternoon  in  the  same 
year,  and  Lily  was  seated  in  her  private  room  at 
Thurso  House,  writing  busily  and  fiercely,  as  if 
to  absorb  herself  in  what  she  was  doing.  Her 
secretary,  to  whom  she  had  dictated  replies  to 
some  fifty  letters  less  private  than  those  she  was 
herself  engaged  on,  had  just  left  her,  but  this  pile 
which  stood  by  her  on  her  table  she  felt  she  had 
better  answer  herself. 

The  room  where  she  sat  was  one  of  her  own 
private  suite,  which  she  occupied  when,  as  now, 
she  had  come  hurriedly  to  London,  meaning  only 
to  stop  a  day  or  two,  and  do  some  necessary  busi- 
ness, and  it  was  not  worth  while  to  open  the  whole 
house.  There  was  a  bedroom  and  bathroom  be- 
longing to  it,  and  another  small  sitting-room, 
where  she  had  her  meals.  Before  that  she  had 
been  paying  visits  for  a  month  since  she  came 
down  from  Scotland,  and  Thurso  had  as  far  as 
she  knew  been  doing  the  same,  though  in  other 
houses,  and  this  week — she  had  been  here  ten  days 
now — they  were  to  have  entertained  at  their  house 
in  Norfolk.  But  the  party  had  had  to  be  put  off. 
For  on  her  arrival  suddenly  at  Thurso  House, 


192     THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

she  had  found  that  her  husband  was  already  here 
— he  had  been  here  for  a  fortnight  alone,  just  with 
his  valet  and  a  couple  of  maid-servants,  one  to 
cook,  one  to  clean  up.  He  had  excused  himself 
from  the  houses  where  he  was  to  stay,  and  had 
come  here  to  live  in  the  hell-paradise  of  opium. 
Lady  Thurso  had  telegraphed  for  Maud,  who 
was  more  use  than  anybody  else  with  her  brother, 
and  the  two  had  been  here  now  for  ten  days. 

Since  last  June  the  habit  had  gained  on  him 
with  awful  strides;  for  a  few  months  after  that 
he  had,  she  knew,  made  frantic  efforts  to  throw 
it  off.  He  had  seen  doctors,  he  had  done  all  that 
there  lay  in  his  power  to  do.  But  with  fearful 
rapidity  a  sort  of  atrophy  of  his  will  had  set  in. 
He  had  soon  no  longer  wished  or  desired  to  be 
a  free  man  again,  and  though  his  will  had  so  com- 
pletely been  dominated  by  the  drug,  it  had  left 
the  calculating,  scheming  part  of  his  brain  un- 
touched, and  in  order  to  obtain  the  drug,  since 
the  chemists  with  whom  he  habitually  dealed  had 
been  ordered  not  to  give  it  him,  he  had  gone  to 
others.  Then,  about  a  month  ago,  he  had  made 
what  seemed  to  be  the  very  last  effort  of  his  will, 
and  in  Lily's  presence  had  burned  the  prescrip- 
tion which  enabled  him  to  obtain  it.  But  three 
days  had  not  elapsed  after  that  before  he  him- 
self forged  another,  and  Lord  Thurso,  calling 
suddenly  at  some  big  pharmacy,  in  great  pain, 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      193 

with  a  prescription  bearing  an  eminent  doctor's 
name,  was  naturally  not  refused  the  dark  blue 
bottle  with  its  poison  label. 

Yet  busily  as  Lady  Thurso  dealt  with  her  cor- 
respondence, striving,  since  at  the  moment  she 
could  do  nothing  for  her  husband,  to  occupy  her 
mind  anyhow,  rather  than  let  it  dwell  on  the  hid- 
eous reality  of  what  was  going  on,  she  was  alert 
for  the  interruption  she  expected.  For  this  morn- 
ing Thurso  had  suddenly  collapsed,  and  for  an 
hour  or  two  they  thought  he  was  dying.  But  the 
doctors  had  pulled  him  round  out  of  immediate 
danger,  and  Sir  James  Sanderson,  after  an  hour's 
absence,  had  come  back  again  and  was  with  him 
now.  He  had  promised  to  make  his  report  to  Lady 
Thurso  before  he  left  the  house. 

Her  pen  went  rapidly  from  top  to  bottom  of 
the  paper,  and  envelope  after  envelope  joined  the 
letters  already  written.  Awful  as  the  present 
was,  yet,  in  a  sense,  now  that  a  crisis  like  this  had 
come,  it  was  more  bearable  in  thought  than  those 
growing  anxieties  and  torments  she  had  suffered 
in  the  past.  For  with  the  growth  of  the  habit,  his 
moral  perception,  like  his  will,  had  seemed  to 
leave  him.  He  had  conceived  wholly  baseless  sus- 
picions against  his  wife;  he  had  uttered  them; 
he  had  forbidden  the  house  to  Count  Villars.  He 
had  spied  on  her,  he  had  opened  her  letters,  both 
those  which  she  wrote  and  those  which  she  re- 


194      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

ceived — he  who  a  few  months  ago  had  exacted 
from  her  a  promise  not  to  open  his.  Then  from 
being  suspicious  of  others  himself,  suspicion 
ripening  into  certainty  had  arisen  against  him. 
He  made  long  absences,  when  he  was  not  at  the 
house  or  at  his  club,  and  gave  palpably  false  ac- 
counts of  his  days  when  he  returned.  Finally, 
he  had  brought  to  Thurso  House,  while  his  wife 
was  in  it,  a  common  woman  off  the  street. 

But  the  crisis  which  had  occurred  this  morning 
— the  crisis  that  concerned  life  and  death — had 
mitigated  the  horror  of  these  things.  It  had  miti- 
gated also  the  acuteness  of  another  question.  Since 
June  last  she  had  known  that  Villars  loved  her 
now,  just  as  he  had  always  loved  her,  and  though, 
being  a  gentleman,  to  put  the  matter  broadly,  he 
had  not  traded  on  her  growing  disgust  at  the  man 
who  was  her  husband,  it  was  impossible  for  her 
not  to  know  that  her  lover  had  moved  closer.  She 
had  no  moral  code  of  defence.  There  was  noth- 
ing of  that  kind  that  prevented  her  letting  the 
man  who  loved  her  and  who  was,  after  all,  the 
only  man  she  had  ever  loved,  become  in  deed  what 
both  he  and  she  knew  that  he  was  in  all  else  but 
that.  Nothing,  except  her  blind  determination 
that  this  should  not  be  so,  stood  in  the  way. 
Thurso  had  taunted  her  again  and  again  with  a 
lie,  he  could  not  taunt  her  more  if  it  had  been  a 
truth.  Indeed,  to  taunt  her,  as  Thurso  had  done, 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     195 

with  what  was  not  true,  was  more  unbearable  to 
her  than  if  it  had  been.  Had  Villars  been  her 
lover,  she  almost  felt  as  if  she  would  have  hurled 
the  truth  of  it  herself  in  Thurso's  face.  For  her 
actions  never  ran  away  with  her;  she  was  not  in 
the  habit  of  doing  what  she  was  ashamed  of  after- 
wards, and  certainly,  so  she  felt,  if  she  had  taken 
a  step,  so  momentous,  so  vitally  concerned  with 
her  life,  as  having  a  lover,  she  was  sure  that  she 
would  not  have  done  so  blindly  in  any  heat  of 
passion.  Had  she  meant  to  live  that  double  life, 
she  would  have  done  so  deliberately,  and  for  rea- 
sons which  would  have  seemed  to  her  excellent — 
firstly,  that  her  husband  was  opium-drenched; 
secondly,  that  she  loved  Villars,  and  thirdly,  that 
she  would  not  have  believed  it  was  wicked.  Had 
Villars  been  her  lover,  it  would  have  been  because 
she  did  not  see  any  moral  reason  why  he  should 
not  be.  And  though  in  judging  others,  as  has 
been  said,  she  had  no  moral  code,  yet  she  judged 
herself,  it  seemed,  by  stricter  laws,  though  all- 
unformulated,  than  she  applied  to  her  friends. 
She  wanted  everybody  to  have  a  good  time;  but 
she  would  not  take  the  species  of  "  good  time  " 
that  others  might  choose,  and  make  it  her  own. 

It  seemed  to  her  that  she  had  only  been  sub- 
jected to  the  anticipation  of  the  rack;  the  rack 
itself  was  yet  to  come.  For  Rudolf  Villars  was 
(though  he  was  the  rack  also)  her  one  stand-by 


196     THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

in  this  awful  passage  through  which  the  inscrut- 
able Master  of  Souls  was  leading  her.  Maud  was 
splendid,  she  could  not  have  done  without  Maud 
either;  but  Maud  was  a  woman,  and  she  was  a 
woman  and  Villars  was  a  man.  Therefore,  he 
could  help  her  in  a  way  that  Maud  could  not.  For 
humankind  is  created  male  and  female,  and  those 
of  different  sex  can  and  must  help  each  other  in 
a  manner  impossible  to  those  of  the  same  sex. 
That  is  the  glory  of  the  world,  and  its  shame. 

So  day  by  day  she  owed  more  to  Villars,  and 
her  debt  was  mounting  into  huge  figures.  And 
though  she  knew  well  that  to  him  it  was  non- 
existent— he  never,  anyhow,  added  it  up — and  it 
was  fearfully  existent  to  her.  In  payment  of  it 
she  could  only  give  him  one  thing,  herself,  and 
that  she  would  not.  But  in  the  intimacy  which 
had  shot  up  again,  a  mature  growth  this  time, 
from  the  root  of  their  boy-and-girl  affection,  he 
must  have  seen,  she  knew,  the  apparent  incon- 
sistency of  her  attitude.  She  did  not  judge  or 
condemn,  she  did  not  really  disapprove  in  the  case 
of  others  of  that  which  she  refused  him.  True 
he  had  made  no  declaration  of  his  love  for  her, 
but  it  was  only  the  instinctive  knowledge  that  to 
do  so  was  quite  useless  that  restrained  him.  But 
day  by  day  it  was  getting  harder  for  him  to  be 
silent.  And  what  would  happen  then?  Would 
she  be  strong  enough  to  withstand  him!  For  the 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      197 

moment,  however,  the  acuteness  of  these  perplex- 
ities had  lost  their  point  since  Thurso's  collapse 
this  morning,  and,  torturing  as  that  anxiety  was, 
it  was  less  wearing  than  the  other. 

But  these  thoughts,  the  summary  of  her  inner 
life  for  the  last  two  or  three  months,  did  not  now 
get  between  her  pen  and  her  paper.  She  had  to 
answer  these  letters,  inquiring  about  her  husband, 
regretting  her  absence  from  various  parties  and 
gatherings,  and  she  had  to  answer  them  with  the 
knowledge  that  the  world  knew  what  was  the  mat- 
ter with  him.  Some  people  thought  he  had  taken 
to  drink,  others  that  he  had  taken  to  drugs,  and 
since  nobody  said  such  things  to  her,  she  had  to 
frame  her  answers  carefully.  But  it  was  no 
longer  any  use  to  pretend  that  nothing  was  wrong 
— the  whole  world  knew  that  something  was 
wrong.  Thus  these  letters  required  a  ' '  deal  ' '  of 
answering. 

But  the  interruption  for  which  she  had  been 
waiting  soon  came,  and  Sir  James  Sanderson 
bustled  cheerfully  into  the  room.  He  looked  ex- 
traordinarily unlike  an  eminent  doctor,  but  ex- 
actly like  a  P.  and  0.  Captain,  dressed  rather 
absurdly.  He  had  a  toothbrush  mustache,  a 
bronzed,  ruddy  face,  and  wore  a  black  frock  coat, 
with  yellow  boots,  and  a  red  tie.  He  was  awk- 
ward, cheerful  and  embarrassed,  and  played  golf 
whenever  possible,  which  was  not  often,  with  the 


198      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

enthusiasm  of  boyhood  and  remarkable  inability. 
But,  incidentally,  he  had  saved  more  lives  and 
restored  more  health,  which  he  thought  far  more 
important,  than  any  other  three  doctors  put  to- 
together. 

He  shook  hands  with  Lady  Thurso,  and  sat 
down  on  a  small  chair,  which  broke  into  fragments 
beneath  him,  leaving  him  couched  among  splinters 
on  the  floor.  He  quite  distinctly  said,  "  Oh, 
damn!  "  aad  struggled  to  his  feet. 

' '  Oh,  I  am  so  sorry, ' '  said  Lily.  '  *  I  hope  you 
are  not  hurt. ' ' 

And  though  this  farcical  introduction  was  ut- 
terly unintended  by  the  doctor,  she  felt  rather 
more  courageous. 

"  Not  in  the  least,  but  the  chair  is,"  he  said. 
1 1  Yes,  I  have  been  with  Lord  Thurso  for  the  last 
hour. ' ' 

He  found  another  seat. 

"  Now,  be  brave,"  he  said. 

Then  his  skill  in  dealing  with  people  was  ap- 
parent. There  was  dreadful  news  to  tell;  but  in 
spite  of  the  obsoleteness  of  the  expression 
"  breaking  news  "  news  could  still  be  broken.  It 
was  wise  to  stab  like  that,  to  say  "  be  brave," 
and  then,  since  he  knew  he  was  dealing  with  a 
brave  woman,  to  wait  for  her  recovery,  which 
would  come. 

"  I  know  I  am  allowed  to  smoke  a  cigarette," 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      199 

he  said,  "  though  it  is  most  unprofessional.  Do 
take  one  of  mine. ' ' 

There  was  the  moment's  pause  of  lighting. 
Lily's  courage  sank  away  after  his  first  words 
like  the  mercury  exposed  to  a  temperature  of  zero. 
Then,  in  the  pause,  she  braced  herself  again.  It 
was  that  he  had  been  waiting  for. 

"  Lord  Thurso  has  lived  through  six  hours, 
when  he  might  have  died  any  moment, "  he  said. 
* '  That  shows  he  has  a  fine  constitution.  This  at- 
tack of  syncope — failure  of  the  heart — was  enough 
to  kill  most  people.  It  has  not  killed  him,  and  he 
will  not  now  die  of  this  attack.  He  may  have 
other  attacks,  but  I  don't  see  why  he  should,  un- 
less he  provokes  them  himself." 

He  flicked  the  end  off  his  cigarette. 

' '  That  is  the  bright  side, ' '  he  said.  ' i  There  is 
the  other  side.  Opium,  I  suppose — laudanum, 
morphia,  it  is  all  one.  But,  as  far  as  you  know, 
has  he  lost  the  power  to  will?  My  dear  lady,  tell 
me  everything.  I  guess  a  good  deal  from  what 
I  have  seen.  And — now  you  must  be  brave — there 
is  nothing  which  you  can  tell  me  which  will  be 
worse  than  what  I  conjecture." 

But  as  she  spoke,  though  he  attended  very  care- 
fully to  all  she  said,  he  watched  her  not  for  that 
reason  alone.  It  was  very  likely,  he  saw,  that  he 
would  soon  have  another  patient  on  his  hands. 

Then  she  began.    She  concealed  nothing  of  what 


200      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

was  within  her  knowledge,  and  she  exaggerated 
nothing.  She  told  of  the  secret  dose  which  Maud 
had  seen  Thurso  take  in  the  train,  she  told  him  of 
Maud's  previous  suspicion — a  suspicion  only.  She 
told  him  also  of  the  Original  cause  of  his  taking 
laudanum  at  all — namely,  those  overmastering 
headaches.  At  that,  for  the  only  time,  he  inter- 
rupted her. 

"  Quite  so,"  he  said.  "  I  gave  him  the  pre- 
scription myself." 

Then  the  tale  became  harder  of  telling.  She 
told  him  of  the  intercepted  bottle,  of  the  growth 
•of  his  suspicions  of  her,  and  the  certainty  of  her 
suspicion  of  him,  of  the  crowning  insult.  And 
when  she  had  finished  there  was  silence. 

She  was  prepared  now — there  was  no  reason 
to  break  or  conceal  things. 

' '  The  opium-habit,  even  when  one  takes  it  quite 
early,"  he  said,  "  is  the  most  difficult  thing  in  the 
world  to  cure — give  me  ten  drunkards,  and  I  will 
cure  eight,  but  give  me  ten  opium-eaters,  and  I 
may  cure  one.  God  knows  why  it  is  so,  Lady 
Thurso,  but  this  particular  drug,  this  poppy  of 
the  field,  binds  body  and  soul  in  a  way  that  noth- 
ing else — not  alcohol  or  sensualism — binds.  And 
your  husband's  case  has  not  been  taken  early;  it 
has  been  taken,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  at  the 
last  gasp,  when  he  was  nearly  dying." 

"  And  now  be  brave  again,"  he  said.     "  He 


might  have  died  this  morning.  It  might  have  been? 
better  if  he  had.  It  might  have  saved  suffering 
and  misery  to  himself  and  those  about  him.  Of 
course  one  cannot,  and  I  do  not,  say  that  any  case 
is  incurable,  because,  thank  God,  miracles  do  hap- 
pen. But  as  he  gets  stronger  again  from  this 
attack,  so,  too,  will  his  craving  for  the  drug  get 
stronger.  Unless  you  absolutely  shut  him  up,  he 
will  find  means  of  getting  it,  and  he  will  probably 
begin  with  small  doses  again.  Then  he  will  in- 
crease them  and  increase  them  till  this  happens 
once  more." 

"  But  if  one  succeeded  in  keeping  him  away 
from  it  by  any  means  1  ' '  asked  Lily. 

"  He  would  probably  go  mad.  It  is  not  the 
time  for  me  to  keep  anything  from  you,  dear  lady. 
Thank  Heaven,  you  are  a  brave  woman,  and  you 
are  bearing  it  all  as — well,  as  I  think  we  are  meant 
to  bear  things.  We  may  get  white  with  pain,  we 
may  feel  sick  with  the  anguish  of  it  all,  but  we 
can  clinch  our  teeth  at  any  rate,  and  the  very  ef- 
fort to  be  decent,  to  be  brave,  always  and  inevi- 
tably brings  its  own  reward.  All  such  efforts 
strengthen  our  characters,  just  as  gymnastics 
strengthen  our  muscles." 

Something  in  this  arrested  her.  She  was  led 
away  from  Thurso  for  a  moment  to  another  mat- 
ter that  concerned  her  just  as  vitally. 

"  Do  you  mean  that  if — if  we  resist  anything, 


202      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

our  powers  of  resistance  are  increased?  "  she 
asked. 

Sir  James  took  in  this  also.  His  eye,  trained 
to  observe  obscurities,  saw  she  was  not  thinking 
for  the  moment  of  her  husband. 

"  Certainly  that  is  so,"  he  said,  "  just  as  the 
absence  of  resistance,  the  yielding,  weakens  our 
power  of  resistance.  The  strong  body  is  built  up 
by  resisting,  and  so  I  venture  to  say  is  the  strong 
soul. ' ' 

She  thought  about  that  for  a  moment,  noting 
down,  so  to  speak,  in  her  mind  how  it  concerned 
that  of  which  the  doctor  knew  nothing. 

"  Tell  me  all  you  fear  about  Thurso,"  she  said 
quietly.  "  Tell  me  what  you  think  the  end  will 
be,  and  when.  I  gather  that  you  regard  him  as 
incurable ;  in  fact,  you  have  said  so.  Now  I  want 
to  hear  from  you  quietly  and  fully  what  I  must 
bring  myself  to  expect." 

"  I  have  told  you  the  worst,"  he  said,  "  and 
I  think  you  understand  it.  But  more  in  detail,  it 
is  this:  He  will  be  very  weak  for  a  day  or  two, 
and  will,  of  course,  have  to  remain  in  bed.  But 
I  fully  expect  that  his  recovery  from  this  attack 
will  be  comparatively  rapid,  because  the  predis- 
posing cause,  opium,  is  no  longer  at  work,  but  as 
he  gets  stronger,  as  I  said,  the  craving  will  get 
stronger. ' ' 

"  Then  you  advise " 


'  *  I  advise  nothing  till  I  see  how  he  pulls  round 
after  this.  It  is  his  mind,  his  will-power,  that 
has  been  atrophied,  made  ineffective  by  this  drug. 
He — I  am  telling  you  my  worst  fears,  of  course, 
because  this  is  not  a  time  to  buoy  you  up  with 
false  hopes — he  is  incapable  of  resistance,  so  I 
fear,  from  what  you  tell  me.  That  is  the  real  and 
fatal  danger.  Now  is  there  any  motive,  any 
thought  or  desire  or  aim,  that  was  his,  which  we 
can  make  use  of,  on  which,  so  to  speak,  we  can 
prop  up  and  train  this  will-power  which  is  lying 
helpless  like  a  creeper  that  has  been  torn  from 
its  supports?  His — his  devotion  to  you,  for  ex- 
ample? His  love  for  his  children?  ' 

She  shook  her  head,  and  the  Dead  Sea  was  in 
that  gesture  for  bitterness. 

The  doctor  spoke  again,  gently,  tenderly. 

11  Then  who  has  the  most  influence  over  him?  " 
he  asked. 

"  Oh,  Maud,"  said  she.  "  His  sister,  you 
know,  Lady  Maud  Stratton.  I  have  no  doubt 
about  that." 

She  spoke  without  bitterness,  but  the  simplicity 
of  her  tone  was  more  pathetic  to  the  kind  man 
who  had  to  ask  these  questions,  since  his  business 
was  to  cure  his  patients,  than  any  bitterness  could 
have  been. 

"  Then  may  I  consult  with  her  before  I  go," 
said  he,  * '  as  to  any  possibility  that  she  knows  of, 


204      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

of  presenting  some  motive  to  her  brother  for  liv- 
ing. He  is  sinking,  he  must  sink  as  far  as  purely 
medical  skill  can  help  him,  and  so  we  want,  do 
we  not,  to  throw  any  life-buoy  to  him,  anything 
that  will  keep  him  afloat." 

"  Hypnotism,  that  sort  of  thing?  "  she  asked. 

"  It  is  inconceivable  that  hypnotism  or  sugges- 
tion can  help  him,"  said  he.  "  There  must  be 
something  to  hypnotize,  something  to  suggest  to, 
and  that  something  is  will-power.  That,  in  Lord 
Thurso,  as  I  feel  sure,  is  practically  destroyed." 

Though  Lily  had  taken  this  all  so  quietly,  her 
quietude  was  partly  that  of  some  one  who  is 
stunned,  and  now  her  mind  recurred,  as  she  re- 
covered herself,  to  the  moment  when  the  stunning 
blow  had  been  delivered. 

"  You  mean  then  that  it  is  only  a  miracle  that 
can  save  him?  "  she  added. 

"  Yes,  but  I  believe  in  miracles,"  said  he, 
"  though  one  cannot,  unfortunately,  summon  a 
miracle  to  one's  aid." 

She  got  up  quickly. 

"  How  strange  you  should  say  that!  "  she  re- 
marked. "  Because  Maud  believes  in  them,  as 
you  do.  Only  she  no  longer  calls  them  miracles, 
she  calls  them  '  Christian  Science.'  " 

Sir  James  could  not  have  looked  cynical  or 
sneering  if  he  had  tried,  and  certainly  he  did  not 
try.  But  his  tone  was  exceedingly  dry. 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      205 

"  The  lady  in  Boston?  "  he  observed. 

Lady  Thurso  got  up.  "  No,  a  man  in  Caith- 
ness," she  said.  "  I  will  ring;  she  shall  come 
and  tell  you,  if  she  is  in." 

11  Ah,  one  moment  yet,  please.  I  want  to  talk 
for  a  moment  about  you.  Lady  Thurso,  you  are 
on  the  verge  of  a  nervous  breakdown.  I  have  been 
looking  at  you  and  watching  you.  You  have  had 
a  terrible  time,  and  you  are  not  finished  with  it 
yet.  It  has  told  on  you  more  than  you  can  guess, 
though  you  are  bearing  it  with  a  gallantry  that  I 
respect  and  admire.  But  are  you  not  taxing  your 
strength  more  than  you  need?  ' 

Her  eyes  went  to  the  writing-table,  near  which, 
on  the  floor,  was  the  &ack  of  her  answered  letters. 

"  You  mean  I  had  better  sit  down  and  think 
over  all  this  terrible  tragedy, ' '  she  said,  her  voice 
beginning  to  break  a  little,  "  rather  than  find 
relief  from  it  in  forgetting,  by  means  of  employ- 
ment? " 

' '  No,  I  do  not  pin  myself  down  to  say  that  you 
must  not  answer  your  letters,  but  I  very  strongly 
advise  you  to  rest  yourself  as  far  as  is  possible, 
and  to  avoid  anything  agitating  beyond  that  which 
you  must  bear.  There  is  plenty  that  you  must 
bear,  that  you  as  your  husband's  wife  have  got 
to  bear.  But  if  there  is  anything  else,  I  entreat 
you  don't  be  at  home  to  it.  Exercise  your  will- 
power and  make  it  stronger  by  resistance.  Save 


206      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

yourself  from  anything  else  that  may  worry  or 
tire  you.  I  speak,  of  course,  quite  at  random,  but 
I  feel  sure  from  your  magnificent  bravery  over 
what  I  have  had  to  tell  you  that  you  have  other 
worries. ' ' 

Then,  quite  suddenly,  the  breaking-point  came 
for  her.  All  these  months  of  ceaseless  anxiety 
about  Thurso  had  worn  her  nerves  to  fiddle- 
strings;  all  her  life,  too,  she,  with  her  splendid 
constitution,  which  never  told  her  how  tired  she 
was,  had  been  living  on  the  extreme  limits  of  her 
powers,  and  simultaneously  with  her  husband's 
mental  and  physical  ruin  had  come  the  regret  and 
glory  of  her  life.  She  had  loved  once  and  had 
scarcely  known  it,  she  loved  now  and  was  loved, 
and  renounced  it. 

She  gave  a  sudden  shriek  of  laughter  that  did 
not  sound  like  mirth. 

* '  Oh,  you  conjurers !  ' '  she  cried.  ' '  Doctors 
are  like  X-rays,  are  they  not  ?  Good  Heavens !  I 
have  enough  to  try  me,  and  you  don't  guess  the 
half.  If  it  were  only  Thurso,  why,  I  could  bear 
it." 

Sir  James  got  up  quickly,  placed  himself  di- 
rectly in  front  of  her,  and  clapped  his  hands  vio- 
lently close  to  her  face. 

"  Now,  none  of  that,"  he  said.  "  I  haven't 
come  here  to  listen  to  hysterical  ravings.  Mak& 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

an  effort!  Pull  yourself  together.  I'm  ashamed 
of  you !  ' ' 

Lady  Thurso  checked  suddenly  in  the  middle 
of  her  sentence ;  two  or  three  tears,  the  precursors 
of  the  hysterical  storm  that  had  been  on  the  point 
of  bursting,  had  found  their  way  on  to  her  cheeks, 
and  she  wiped  them  off.  The  attack  was  averted 
in  mid-career,  and  she  stood  silent  a  moment,  still 
hearing  the  reverberation  of  his  clapped  hands. 

"  Yes,  quite  right,"  she  said.  "  Thank  you 
very  much. ' ' 

Sir  James  waited  a  moment  till  he  felt  cer- 
tain of  her.  Then  he  took  one  of  her  hands  and 
kissed  it. 

"  You  dear,  brave  woman,"  he  said. 

She  was  quiet  again  now,  and  sat  down  in  the 
chair  from  which  she  had  jumped  up. 

11  Never  mind  me,"  she  said.  "  I  can  manage 
my  own  private  affairs.  Oh,  there  are  some.  But 
I  give  you  my  word  I  can  do  it. ' ' 

"  Of  course,  you  can.  I  only  warned  you  that 
some  management  was  necessary.  Now!  " 

He  paused  a  moment. 

11  Now  about  this  man  in  Caithness,"  he  said. 
"  I  understand  that  Lord  Thurso  was  there  this 
summer,  and  Lady  Maud  was  with  him.  I  am 
not  bigoted.  These  Christian  Scientists  have  got 
hold  of  a  big  truth,  only  they  mix  a  lot  of  non- 
sense up  with  it — at  least  some  of  them  do.  They 


208      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

tell  me  that  if  you  have  a  compound  fracture  and 
only  say  to  yourself  that  compound  fractures 
don't  really  exist,  the  bones  will  come  together, 
like  the  bones  in  Ezekiel.  That  is  silly.  But  about 
this  man  in  Caithness " 

Lady  Thurso  got  up  again,  quietly  this  time. 

"  I  will  see  if  Maud  is  in,"  she  said.  "  There 
was  very  virulent  typhoid  up  there  in  the  summer. 
Mr.  Cochran  is  believed  by  her  to  have  cured  one 
or  two  cases.  In  fact,  she  believes  more  than 
that." 

She  rang  the  bell,  and  in  the  interval  before  it 
was  answered  only  two  words  were  spoken. 

"  Spare  yourself,"  said  Sir  James. 

Maud  had  come  in  half  an  hour  ago,  but  hear- 
ing that  her  sister-in-law  was  with  the  doctor, 
had  not  interrupted  them.  And,  as  she  entered 
now,  Lady  Thurso  got  up  and  shook  hands  with 
Sir  James. 

11  Maud,  this  is  Sir  James  Sanderson,"  she 
said.  "  He  wants  to  talk  to  you.  Good-by,  Sir 
James,  I  shall  see  you,  of  course,  to-morrow 
morning. ' ' 

She  left  the  room,  and  Maud  was  alone  with 
the  doctor.  She  had  no  idea  what  he  wanted  to 
talk  about,  and  waited,  wondering  why  Lily  had 
gone.  Then  he  told  her. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     209 

' '  Lady  Maud, ' '  he  said, ' '  I  want  to  hear  about 
Caithness  and  the  typhoid,  and  Mr.  Cochran." 

Here  was  the  directness  of  the  P.  &  0.  Captain 
again.  It  was  exactly  as  if  he  had  given  orders 
to  the  engine-room. 

"  What  for?  "  she  asked  very  simply,  taking 
off  her  gloves. 

"  Your  brother,"  said  he. 

Maud  told  him,  as  simply  as  Lily  had  told  him, 
of  the  course  of  Thurso  's  disease ;  what  had  hap- 
pened, as  far  as  she  knew,  in  Caithness.  She  did 
not  preach  about  it,  she  drew  no  moral  from  it; 
she  merely  said  what  had  happened  to  Duncan's 
wife,  what  had  happened  to  Sandy  Mackenzie, 
what  had  happened  to  the  whole  outbreak  of  ty- 
phoid. Then  he  asked  one  question. 

"  Do  you  believe  it  was  the  direct  power  of 
God,"  he  said,  "  in  Whose  presence  all  sickness 
and  illness  and  pain  cannot  exist!  " 

* '  I  think  I  believe  it, ' '  said  she. 

"  But  you  are  not  sure?  " 

"  Not  quite." 

He  thought  in  silence  over  this  for  some  time. 

"  Medical  science,  as  far  as  I  am  acquainted 
with  it,"  he  said,  "  can  do  nothing  for  Lord 
Thurso.  If  there  was  a  man  outside  in  the  street 
there  with  a  barrel-organ  and  a  monkey,  who  said 
that  he  could  cure  the  opium-habit,  I  should  wel- 
come him  in.  I  don't  believe  in  Christian  Science 


for  cases  of  compound  fracture  or  for  cases  of 
complete  atrophy  of  the  will.  But  it  is  my  duty 
to  let  anything  be  tried.  And  now,  since  I  have 
admitted  that,  I  wish  to  consult  you.  You  are 
one  doctor  in  consultation  with  me,  another  doc- 
tor, over  your  poor  brother's  case." 
Maud  gave  a  sudden  little  startled  gasp. 
11  But  I  can't — "  she  said.  "  I  know  nothing." 
"  Nor  do  I.  At  least  I  only  know  (and  Mr.  Tri- 
ton, whom  I  had  in  consultation  with  me  this 
morning,  agrees  with  me)  that  it  is  mere  waste 
of  time  for  us  to  try  to  treat  this  case  medically. 
There  are  certain  things — cancer  is  one,  the 
opium-habit  is  another,  Addison's  disease,  though 
you  mayn't  know  what  that  is,  is  a  third,  and 
there  are  many  more — where  doctors  are  perfectly 
useless.  They  have  been  trained  also  to  say, 
'  This  is  incurable,'  and  that,  added  to  their  ex- 
perience that  they  have  never  cured  it,  makes 
them,  if  they  are  honest,  not  take  fees  in  order 
to  go  on  visiting  a  patient  whom  they  know  they 
cannot  restore  to  health.  They  may  still,  though 
their  honesty  is  unimpeachable,  then  consider  it 
their  duty  to  use  drugs  or  treatment  that  may 
prolong  life  a  little.  With  that  I  have  no  par- 
ticular sympathy.  They  may  also,  and  with  this 
I  am  in  complete  sympathy,  palliate,  and  with 
all  their  skill,  the  sufferings  of  anyone  whom  they 
know  must  soon  die." 


THE   HOUSE   OF,  DEFENCE     211 

The  dear  old  sea-captain  felt  himself  much 
moved.  He  was  spending  his  valuable  time,  which 
might  have  been  remuneratively  occupied ;  but  he 
somehow  regarded  that  as  an  offering  laid  on  the 
altar,  a  tribute  to  the  glorious  bravery  of  these 
two  women. 

"  I  will  always  do  that,"  he  said,  "  and  if  we 
are  to  leave  your  brother  to  die,  I  will  make  his 
days  painless  to  him.  But  the  moment  I  begin 
to  make  his  days  painless,  I  aggravate  his  dis- 
ease. You,  Lady  Maud,  believe  that  he  has  a 
chance.  I  do  not;  but  since  all  I  can  offer  to  you 
and  him  is  so  much  less  than  what  you  offer,  I, 
though  a  professional  doctor,  say,  i  Do  what  you 
can,  and  God  be  with  you!  '  Now,  to  descend  to 
practical  details,  what  will  you  do  ?  Where  is  this 
Mr.  Cochran ?  But  I  suppose  there  are  plenty  of 
these  healers." 

Maud  strove  for  a  moment  to  separate  the  two 
strands  of  her  desires,  the  one  of  which  was  to 
see  Thurso  delivered  from  this  drug-possession, 
the  other  to  see  and  be  with  Walter  Cochran 
again.  But  her  answer  was  absolutely  honest. 

"  I  have  knowledge  of  only  one  of  the  Chris- 
tian Science  practitioners  whom  I  really  believe 
in,"  she  said,  "  and  he  is  Mr.  Cochran.  I  saw 
him  cure,  with  my  eyes  I  saw  him  restore  to  life, 
a  dying  man.  Of  the  others — there  is  Lady 
Yardly " 


212      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

Sir  James  laughed  suddenly. 

11  Why  that?  "  she  asked. 

"  She  came  to  me  a  few  months  ago  for  a 
tonic,"  he  said.  "  She  had  been  suffering  from 
general  catarrh  for  some  weeks." 

Maud  laughed  too. 

11  Oh,  Alice!  "  she  said  to  herself. 

"  Mr.  Cochran  has  not  come  to  me,  however," 
said  Sir  James. 

"  Well,  I  believe  in  him,"  said  Maud.  "  At 
least — you  see  I  am  nearly  a  Christian  Scientist 
myself.  I  believe  that  he  can  direct  the  power 
of  God  on  to  people.  And  that  is  the  biggest  thing 
possible,  isn't  it?  " 

Sir  James  nodded  quietly. 

"It  is  the  only  thing  possible,"  he  said, 
"  whether  you  have  cancer,  or  consumption,  or 
a  toothache.  That  I  entirely  believe,  and  I  be- 
lieve that  if  you  can  get  that  direct  power  you 
have  no  need  of  us.  And  when  we — the  doctors, 
I  mean — say  we  are  powerless,  get  in  the  man 
with  the  barrel-organ.  Oh,  but  compound  frac- 
ture! "  he  cried  suddenly.  "  What  ridiculous 
nonsense! ' 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment  after  this  sudden 
professional  burst  of  indignation. 

"  But  this  Mr.  Cochran,"  he  said.  "  Who  and 
where  is  he?  " 

"He  is  in  America,"  said  Maud.    "  I  heard 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      213 

from  him  two  days  ago.     He  is  in  New  York." 

The  doctor  was  silent  a  moment.  ' '  I  have  read 
some  of  their  literature,"  he  said,  "  and  heard 
about  some  of  their  reputed  cures,  and  if  you 
choose — if  you  choose,  mind — you  can  send  a  tele- 
gram to  this  Mr.  Cochran  acquainting  him  with 
the  state  of  affairs.  You  see,  I  don't  think  Mr. 
Cochran  can  hurt  Lord  Thurso,  and  I  feel  sure 
that  we,  the  doctors,  can't  benefit  him." 

"  Am  I  to  get  Mr.  Cochran  to  come  here, 
then!  "  asked  Maud. 

"  I  think  not.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  good 
deal  to  ask,  and  in  the  second,  if  only  you  or  Lady 
Thurso  could  persuade  him  to  go,  I  am  quite  con- 
vinced that  a  sea  voyage,  though  of  course  it  will 
not  in  any  sense  cure  him,  will  benefit  him.  Now 
do  you  think  it  is  in  your  power  to  persuade  him 
to  go?  You  needn't  say  anything  about  a  Chris- 
tian Science  practitioner  waiting  for  him  at  the 
end,  there  is  no  need  to  mention  that,  unless  you 
think  well." 

Maud  thought  about  this. 

"  Yes,  I  think  I  might  be  able  to  persuade  him," 
she  said,  "  because  certainly  he  used  to  listen 
to  me  when  he  would  listen  to  nobody  else.  Would 
you  think  it  odd  if  I  suggested  that  he  and  I  went 
alone,  without  Lady  Thurso,  I  mean?  " 

"  I  should  have  suggested  it,  if  you  had  not," 
said  the  doctor. 


' '  Of  course,  poor  Thurso  is  mad,  he  is  not  him- 
self, ' '  said  Maud.  ' '  But  you  know  all  this  month 
he  has  been  behaving  as  if  he  hated  her." 

The  doctor  nodded. 

"  I  know.  She  has  told  me.  Now  I  should 
advise  your  putting  this  plan  before  your  brother 
as  soon  as  possible — to-morrow,  perhaps,  if  he 
goes  on  as  well  as  he  has  done  to-day.  And  now 
I  must  be  off.  I  shall  be  here,  of  course,  to- 
morrow morning." 

Thurso,  for  a  man  who  had  just  passed  through 
so  dangerous  an  attack,  weakened  also  as  he  was 
by  his  opium  indulgence,  showed  extraordinary 
recuperative  power,  and  next  day  he  asked  of  his 
own  accord  if  Maud  might  come  in  and  see  him. 

This  Sir  James  at  once  allowed. 

"  She  may  certainly  come,"  he  said.  "  I  will 
tell  her." 

He  waited  for  a  moment,  but  Thurso  said  noth- 
ing about  his  wife,  and  shortly  after  the  doctor 
left  him  Maud  came  in. 

"  Now,  it's  only  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  dear 
Thurso,"  she  said,  "  that  I  am  allowed  to  stay. 
You  frightened  us  out  of  our  wits  yesterday,  you 
know,  and  to-day,  why,  you  look  ever  so  much 
better." 

Thurso  did  not  at  once  reply  to  this;  then  he 
spoke  quickly. 


"  I  don't  want  to  see  Lily,"  he  said.  "  I  think 
the  sight  of  her  would  send  me  off  my  head.  It's 
she  who  has  brought  me  to  this.  It  was  she  who 
ruined  my  nerves  by  always  rushing  about  and 
flying  off  in  every  direction." 

"  Ah,  never  mind  that,"  said  Maud.  "  The 
only  thing  that  you  must  do  now  is  to  stay  quiet 
and  get  well." 

But  Thurso  interrupted  her. 

"  I've  behaved  abominably  to  her,  too,"  he 
said ;  ' '  but  she  drove  me  to  it.  She  despised  me. 
I  could  see  she  despised  me,  and  so  I  hit  back. ' ' 

"  Thurso,  you  mustn't  talk  like  that,"  com- 
manded Maud.  "  But  if  you  feel  that  you  don't 
want  to  see  Lily,  I've  got  a  plan  to  propose  to 
you  which  we  might  do  when  you  are  better." 

11  Well?  " 

"  Sir  James  told  me  yesterday  that  you  would 
have  to  go  somewhere  to  pick  up  again,  and  sug- 
gested the  sea.  Now  you  and  I  both  like  the  sea, 
so  why  shouldn't  we  go  off  together,  go  to  Amer- 
ica or  somewhere,  just  for  the  voyage.  We  could 
stay  at  Lily's  house  on  Long  Island  for  a  weeK 
or  two  if  you  liked." 

"  Without  Lily,  do  you  mean?  "  asked  he. 

"  Well,  she  loathes  the  sea." 

His  eye  brightened. 

"  Yes,  I'll  come,"  he  said,  "  if  you  promise 
Lily  won't.  I  won't  go  with  her,  mind." 


216      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

His  voice  had  risen  sharply  over  this,  and  he 
was  silent  afterwards,  breathing  rather  quickly. 
Then  he  looked  at  Maud  as  she  sat  beside  the 
bed,  and  something  in  her  youth  and  beauty 
stirred  some  chord  of  memory  in  him,  and  his 
mind,  which  was  quite  clear,  for  all  the  deadly 
weakness  of  his  body,  went  back  to  early  days 
when  he  and  Maud  had  been  together  so  much, 
bound  together  in  an  intimacy  and  affection  that 
seldom  exists  between  brother  and  sister.  She 
had  always  been  such  a  good  friend  to  him,  such 
a  capital  comrade,  and  now,  he  felt,  there  must 
stand  between  them  the  horrors  of  these  last 
months.  For  the  moment  he  got  outside  himself 
and  judged  himself,  and  saw  how  hideous  it  had 
all  been. 

"  I've  made  a  pretty  good  mess  of  it  all,"  he 
said. 

She  laid  her  hand  on  his. 

"  Yes,  dear  Thurso,  but  the  past  is  past,"  she 
remarked;  "  and,  thank  God,  it's  never  too  late." 

Then  that  moment  passed.  It  had  been  as 
brief  as  a  sudden  ray  of  sun  piercing  through 
some  unconjectured  rent  in  blinding  storm-clouds. 

"  But  it's  Lily's  fault,"  he  said. 

But  the  ray  had  been  there;  his  soul,  though 
sick  to  death,  still  lived.  And  that  was  the  only 
bit  of  consolation  that  Maud  could  carry  away 
with  her. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THUESO'S  recovery,  though  he  had  no  relapse 
and  no  hint  even  of  a  second  attack,  had  been 
rather  slow,  and  it  was  three  weeks  from  the 
time  of  his  collapse  when  he  and  Maud  were  sit- 
ting together  on  the  deck  of  the  "  Celtic,"  watch- 
ing the  shores  of  Ireland  fade  into  gray  mist  as 
they  sank  on  the  horizon.  They  had  embarked 
the  day  before  at  Liverpool,  and  though  they  had 
been  at  sea  only  twenty-four  hours,  already  some 
semblance  of  color  was  returning  to  his  face. 
But  if  Maud  had  met  him  now  for  the  first  time 
in  a  year,  she  felt  that  she  would  scarcely  have 
known  him.  Those  months  of  steady  indulgence 
in  the  drug  had  made  his  face  look  strangely  wan 
and  old ;  the  cheeks  had  fallen  in,  crows '  feet  had 
been  planted  at  the  outer  corners  of  his  eyes,  and 
the  lids  were  baggy  and  pendulous.  But  it  was 
his  mouth  that  had  changed  most;  all  power  and 
determination  had  gone  from  it,  it  drooped  weakly 
and  feebly  at  its  corners,  and  the  lower  lip  hung 
loose — it  was  the  mouth  of  a  sensual  and  self- 
indulgent  man.  His  hair,  too,  had  grown  very 
thin,  and  streaks  of  gray  had  appeared  in  it. 
Then,  on  the  top  of  this  rapid  physical  degenera- 


218      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

tion,  had  come  his  very  severe  attack  of  heart 
failure;  illness  as  well  as  deterioration  had  left 
its  mark  on  his  face. 

Sometimes,  when  during  these  last  weeks  she 
had  looked  at  him,  she  had  felt  her  courage  and 
hope  for  the  future  almost  vanish.  Nor  was  it 
only  his  body  which  had  so  aged  and  fallen  away, 
his  soul  was  sick  to  death.  He  had  fits  of  black 
despair  and 'depression,  when  he  could  bear  to 
see  nobody,  not  even  her,  and  would  lock  him- 
self up  in  his  room,  giving  orders  that  his  meals 
were  to  be  left  outside,  and  that  under  no  cir- 
cumstances was  he  to  be  disturbed.  Then  when 
he  began  to  emerge  from  these,  remorse  for  the 
wreck  he  had  made  sometimes  overtook  him,  and 
he  would  ask  her  to  sit  with  him,  while  he  un- 
loaded himself  of  tons  of  despair.  Half  a  dozen 
times  he  had  said  that  he  would  not  go  to  America 
at  all;  what  could  a  week  or  two  of  sea-air  do 
for  a  man  in  his  case?  He  felt  that  death  was 
near;  he  would  die  as  comfortably  as  might  be 
in  his  own  house.  But  then  the  pendulum  would 
swing  further ;  his  depression  would  be  succeeded 
by  bitterness  against  Lily,  and  the  settled  con- 
viction that  it  was  she  who  was  morally  respon- 
sible for  his  downfall.  It  was  that  indeed  which 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  his  having  left  Eng- 
land ;  the  day  before  they  were  to  sail  he  had  had 
a  black  day  of  despair,  and  had  altogether  refused 


THE   HOUSE   OFDEFENCE     219 

to  go.  But  when  the  morning  came  that  had 
passed,  and  his  one  desire  was  to  get  away  from 
her,  to  leave  her  neighborhood  altogether.  She 
was  in  England,  therefore  he  would  go  anywhere 
else.  And  his  last  words  to  her  had  been,  "  You 
are  responsible  for  all  this !  ' ' 

It  was  all  black  enough,  and  there  had  been  at 
present  only  one  ray  of  comfort.  He  had  not  taken 
laudanum  again,  nor,  as  far  as  could  be  ascer- 
tained, had  he  tried  to  get  any.  But  Sir  James 
did  not  let  Maud  build  much  upon  that. 

"  He  is  still  frightfully  weak,"  he  had  said; 
' '  it  is  when  his  strength  begins  to  come  back  that 
he  will  begin  to  crave  for  it.  At  present  he  is 
not  strong  enough  to  want  anything." 

He  had  not  yet  been  told  what  the  ulterior  ob- 
ject in  his  going  to  America  was,  for  it  was 
thought  that  if  he  knew  that  he  would  probably 
refuse  to  go  altogether.  Sir  James  had  had  a 
talk  with  Maud  on  this  subject  shortly  before  they 
left. 

"  There  is  a  psychological  moment  for  telling 
him  that,  my  dear  lady, ' '  he  said,  ' '  which  has  not 
yet  arrived.  At  present,  your  brother  shows  no 
desire  for  anything,  neither  for  the  drug,  nor  for 
any  return  to  health.  He  does  not  even,  I  think, 
want  to  die.  But  as  he  begins  to  get  back  his 
strength  he  will  begin  to  desire  again — he  will 


220      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

want  the  drug;  he  will  want  to  get  well  also. 
Then  tell  him." 

There  was  a  bright  winter's  sun  shining  where 
they  sat,  and  their  place  was  shielded  from  the 
wind  of  their  motion  by  the  deck  smoking-room. 
Two  days  ago  there  had  been  a  big  wind,  and 
there  was  still  a  considerable  swell.  But  the  huge 
ship  took  little  account  of  that,  and  glided  with 
little  motion  across  this  wonderful  gray  sea,  that 
broke  into  dazzling  white  against  her  burrowing 
bows.  Something  of  the  pale  crystalline  blue 
above  was  reflected  in  the  great  joyous  hills  and 
valleys  of  water  that  streamed  hissing  by  them, 
and  the  grayness  of  the  winter  Atlantic  was  shot 
with  delicate  azure,  as  if,  though  it  was  barely 
yet  midwinter,  there  was  some  promise  of  spring 
in  the  air,  and  the  return  to  the  summer  coloring 
of  green  and  blue.  Above  their  heads  the  wind 
thrummed  and  whistled  in  the  rigging  of  the 
masts,  and  the  clean,  unbreathed  odor  of  the  sea 
was  salt  and  bracing.  In  spite  of  the  sun,  how- 
ever, it  was  chilly  to  the  unprotected,  and  both 
Thurso  and  his  sister  wore  thick  fur  coats,  and 
were  covered  in  rugs.  They  had  sat  some  little 
time  in  silence,  and  then  Thurso  turned  to  her. 

"  I  feel  better,"  he  said,  "  and  I  haven't  felt 
better  for  so  long!  ' 

"  Ah,  you  are  much  better,"  she  said.  "  You 
have  been  mending  every  day." 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      221 

"  But  there  is  a  difference  between  being  bet- 
ter and  feeling  better, ' '  he  said,  '  *  and  the  second 
means  more  to  the  man  who  is  ill.  Now,  I  sup- 
pose we  shall  have  to  talk  things  out  sometime, 
so  why  not  now?  I  do  feel  better;  I  feel  as  if  I 
could  wish  to  be  well  again." 

This  then  was  the  moment  of  which  Sir  James 
had  spoken  to  Maud,  when  it  would  be  the  time 
to  tell  Thurso  of  the  real  purpose  of  their  coming 
to  America,  and  he  soon  gave  her  the  opportunity. 

"  But  I  dare  say  I  am  beginning  to  wish  that 
too  late,"  he  said.  "  How  bad  have  I  been  ex- 
actly? How  bad  am  I?  " 

* '  Do  you  mean  your  heart  attack  ?  ' '  she  asked. 

11  No,  the  other  thing.  I  may  tell  you  that  for 
weeks  before  my  attack  I  felt  perfectly  incapable 
of  resistance.  I  could  no  more  resist  than  I  could 
resist  breathing." 

"  You  were  as  bad  as  you  could  be,"  said  she. 
"  Your  heart-attack  in  a  way  saved  your  life.  It 
prevented  you  wanting  the  stuff  for  a  time." 

"  But  does  Sir  James  really  think  that  a  week 
or  two  at  sea  will  cure  that?  ' 

'  *  No ;  but  he  thinks  it  will  do  you  good. ' ' 

Thurso  threw  back  his  head,  and  drew  in  a  long 
breath  of  the  cold,  pure  air.  And  at  the  same 
moment  he  suddenly  felt  his  mouth  water  at  a 
thought  that  had  come  into  his  head.  He  was 
beginning  to  want  again. 


222      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

11  But  he  has  no  idea  that  it  will  cure  me?  " 
he  said,  with  a  certain  suspicious  persistence. 

Then  Maud  knew  that  her  time  had  come. 

"  No,  he  never  thought  it  would  cure  you,  and 
he  doesn't  profess  to  be  able  to  cure  you  himself. 
But,  Thurso,  there  is  another  chance,  perhaps. 
He  sanctioned  our  trying  it." 

"  What  chance?  Another  doctor  in  America? 
I'll  go  to  any  doctor  or  any  quack  you  please." 

"  It  isn't  a  quack  I  want  you  to  go  to.  I  want 
you  to  see  if  a  Christian  Science  practitioner  can 't 
do  anything  for  you. ' ' 

Thurso  was  silent  a  moment. 

"  It  has  been  a  plot,  then?  "  he  asked  in  that 
dreadful  cold  tone  in  which  he  spoke  of  his  wife. 

"  Yes,  dear,  but  don't  speak  like  that,"  said 
Maud.  "  You  speak  as  if  it  were  a  plot  against 
you,  instead  of  a  plot  for  you.  I  didn't  tell  you, 
because  I  was  afraid  you  might  refuse  to  come. 
I  have  been  responsible  for  it  all." 

The  mood  which  she  knew  and  dreaded  was 
gaining  on  him — his  face  was  blanching  with  hate 
and  suspicion. 

"  You  assure  me  Lily  didn't  have  a  hand  in  it," 
he  said,  "  so  that  she  might  be  left  alone  with 
Villars?  " 

Maud  made  a  gesture  of  despair. 

"  Oh,  you  are  mad,"  she  said.  "  It  isn't  you 
speak  when  you  say  dreadful  false  things 


THE   HOUSE   OFDEFENCE     223 

like  that,  but  it's  that  demon  which  possesses  you, 
Thurso,  that  horrible  drug.  It  has  poisoned  your 
body,  and  it  is  poisoning  your  soul." 

Then  with  that  bewildering  rapidity  that  she 
knew  and  dreaded,  his  mood  changed  again.  But 
the  change,  though  he  was  in  the  darkness  of 
abysmal  despair,  was  for  the  better;  anything 
was  better  than  that  hate  and  suspicion. 

"  Yes,  I  am  poisoned;  I  am  altogether  poi- 
soned," he  said  quietly. 

Maud  turned  an  imploring  face  to  him. 

"  No,  dear,  you  are  not  altogether  poisoned," 
she  said, ' i  and  the  fact  of  your  saying  that  shows 
that  there  is  some  little  sound  piece  left.  If  you 
were  altogether  poisoned  you  wouldn't  know  it; 
there  would  be  nothing  to  tell  you  what  was  poi- 
soned and  what  was  wholesome  still.  And  you 
feel  regret  still.  I  saw  it  in  your  eyes  just  now, 
and,  though  it  cuts  me  to  the  heart,  I  wouldn't 
have  it  there.  It  is  just  your  regret,  your  desire 
to  do  better,  which  is  the  only  soil  out  of  which 
your  salvation  can  come." 

Her  voice  died  on  the  last  words.  Then  she 
spoke  again. 

* '  Oh,  Thurso,  if  you  only  knew  how  I  care !  ' 
she  said. 

For  that  moment  he  was  touched.  He  looked 
at  her  kindly. 

"  Poor  Maud!  "  he  said. 


224      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

"  No,  never  mind  that,"  she  answered.  "  Get 
well,  get  the  poison  out  of  your  soul  and  body, 
for  your  own  sake. ' ' 

Once  again  the  genial  thrill  of  convalescence, 
"I'm  feeling  better,"  came  over  him,  and  once 
again  his  thought  framed  a  further  desire.  But 
he  detached  himself  from  that,  and  brought  him- 
self back  to  her  again. 

"  And  do  you  really  believe  that  I  can  be 
cured  ?  "  he  said.  ' '  Is  an  appalling  young  woman 
to  come  and  sit  by  me  and  sing  verses  of  hymns ! 
I  read  something  of  the  sort  in  a  book  I  found  at 
home  the  other  day.  It  was  yours,  I  suppose. ' ' 

She  almost  laughed. 

"  No,  dear,  there  are  going  to  be  no  appalling 
young  women  about.  You  know  the  practitioner 
we  are  going  to.  And  you  like  him. ' ' 

Thurso  frowned;  he  seemed  to  be  able  to  re- 
member nothing;  memory  was  there  still,  but  it 
was  veiled,  he  could  not  reach  it. 

"  That— that  fellow  in  Scotland?  "  he  asked. 

Then  for  a  moment  memory  came  back,  with  a 
flash,  vivid  but  brief. 

"  I  met  him  in  the  street  up  there  one  day," 
he  said,  ' '  and  he  made  me  feel  better.  I  had  an 
awful  headache.  I  say,  that  is  something  gained, 
isn't  it?  I  never  have  headaches  now.  What  was 
his  name,  by  the  way?  ' 

"  Mr.  Cochran,"  said  the  girl. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      225 

"  Yes,  of  course,  I  remember.  So  he  is  going 
to  sing  hymns  to  me,  is  he?  " 

But  Maud  did  not  smile  now.  Thurso  was  him- 
self again  in  a  way  that  he  had  not  been  for 
weeks.  There  might  only  be  a  minute  or  two  of 
this;  any  moment  might  see  him  back  again  in 
despair  and  hatred.  She  wanted  to  make  the 
most  of  it ;  the  creeper — his  will — was  in  her  hand 
for  a  second;  she  might  make  some  attempt  at 
training  it  up  again. 

"  Oh,  Thurso,  pull  yourself  together,"  she 
said ;  '  *  just  make  an  effort  for  a  moment  to  real- 
ize where  you  stand.  Sir  James  says  he  is  help- 
less; he  says  you  have  no  will  left  which  he  can 
attempt  to  strengthen.  I  don't  believe  that.  I 
believe  it  is  there  still;  and  you  are  going  to  get 
God,  not  any  mortal  physician,  to  lay  His  hand 
on  you.  Try  to  believe,  if  only  for  a  moment, 
that  all  power  is  His,  and  that  he  is  all  Love,  all 
health,  all  life.  That  evil,  and  illness,  and  every- 
thing of  that  kind  cannot  exist  in  His  presence. 
Let  yourself  be  brought  to  it;  do  not  hang  back. 
You  can  help  or  hinder  your  cure.  And,  so  I  be- 
lieve, we  have  been  hindering  it,  by  trusting  to 
the  power  of  man  to  cure  you.  That  is  all  done 
with.  You  are  coming  to  God  now." 

For  one  moment,  as  she  spoke,  he  sat  straight 
up  in  his  chair,  looking  suddenly  awake,  revivi- 
fied. But  with  that  revivification  came  more 


226      THE   HOUSE   OF.  DEFENCE 

strongly  than  before  the  revivification  of  desire 
of  another  kind.  All  day  a  certain  strength  and 
vitality  had  been  returning  to  him,  born  of  austere 
sea-winds  and  Atlantic  breezes,  but,  as  must  al- 
ways happen,  until  the  will  is  set  and  centred  on 
the  higher  and  immortal  mind,  and  does  not,  as 
if  through  some  sieve,  strain  off  and  reject  all 
that  is  mortal  and  corruptible,  this  returning  tide 
of  vitality  made  more  vital  and  insistent  that  on 
which  his  habit  of  mind,  his  degraded  desire,  had 
dwelt  all  these  months.  And  this  time  it  took 
more  definite  shape.  He  knew  that  in  his  private 
despatch-box,  of  which  he  alone  had  the  key,  there 
was  a  bottle  of  dark  blue  glass.  He  had  put  it 
there  on  the  morning  of  their  departure,  not  ac- 
tively wanting  it  in  any  way,  but  from  habit,  as 
one  packs  hair-brushes  and  nail-scissors  from 
habit,  knowing  one  will  want  them,  though  not 
now.  But  now  he  began  to  want  it;  and  though 
he  wanted  also  to  get  well,  to  break  this  infernal 
chain  that  was  wound  so  closely  about  him,  yet 
that  which  had  been  the  only  real  desire  of  his 
life  for  all  these  months  pounced  tiger-like  on 
the  fresh  morsel  of  strength  that  had  been  thrown 
within  reach.  The  other  higher  side  of  him, 
feebler  and  indeed  almost  atrophied,  had  no 
chance  to  reach  that  morsel  before  the  other. 
Cunning  began  to  return,  too;  and  already  there 
flashed  through  his  brain  the  design  of  when  he 


THE   HOUSE   OFDEFENCE     2271 

should  be  able  with  safety  to  satisfy  this  growing 
desire.  But  even  as  he  thought  of  it,  the  desire 
itself  swelled  mushroom-like.  It  must  be  soon,  it 
must  be  now.  Just  a  taste,  a  quarter  dose,  to 
satisfy  himself  that  there  was  still  something 
worth  living  for.  That  warm  thrill  and  vibra- 
tion spreading  from  the  head  down  through  his 
neck,  and  invading  every  limb  with  its  harmonies ! 
Or  should  he  tantalize  himself,  let  himself  get 
thirstier  for  it,  before  indulging  in  it  T  The  more 
he  wanted  it,  the  more  ecstatic  was  the  quenching 
of  that  infernal  thirst.  He  wanted  it,  but  it  was 
better  to  want  it  more.  Even  the  want  of  it  was 
pleasurable,  when  he  knew  that  he  could  satisfy 
that  want  when  he  chose.  He  felt  sure,  too,  that 
in  moderation  it  could  do  him  no  harm.  One  had 
to  heal  one's  self  by  degrees  of  a  habit  of  this 
kind.  And  then  he  remembered  when  he  had  last 
said  that  to  himself,  the  day  before  that  on  which 
Lily  and  Maud  had  thrown  his  bottle  away.  That 
had  been  an  unwise  move  of  theirs ;  he  had  fully 
intended  to  break  himself  gradually  of  the  habit, 
but  what  they  had  done  had  brought  on  a  hideous 
headache — the  last,  by  the  way,  that  he  had  had. 
Of  course,  he  had  to  take  the  drug  to  relieve  that. 
Otherwise  he  would  not  have  taken  it  that  day. 
But  now  he  had  been  without  it  for  three  weeks. 
That  was  an  immense  gain.  But  he  wanted  it 
now.  Yes,  now,  there  must  be  no  waiting  for  his 


228      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

craving  to  get  stronger.  That  instinctive  swal- 
lowing movement  of  his  throat  and  tongue  had 
begun,  and  that  was  always  the  signal  he  waited 
for.  But  he  must  still  be  cunning,  he  must  pre- 
vent the  possibility  of  suspicion  conveying  itself 
to  Maud.  That,  however,  was  not  difficult.  It 
was  as  easy  as  lying;  just  as  easy,  in  fact;  there 
was  no  difference  whatever  between  them.  And 
he  looked  at  her,  at  her  big  violet  eyes  just  moist 
with  tears,  at  her  mouth  just  trembling  a  little 
with  the  feeling  that  inspired  her  words,  and 
spoke  without  hesitation  or  bungling. 

"  Yes,  I  believe  that,"  he  said.  "  I  am  going 
to  God  direct,  as  you  say.  I  am  not  a  Christian 
Scientist,  but  I  do  believe  in  His  omnipotent 
power  for  good,  so  that  nothing  evil  can  exist  in 
His  presence.  I  should  probably,  as  you  thought, 
have  refused  to  leave  England  if  I  had  known 
•why  I  was  being  brought  here.  But  I  thank  you 
for  bringing  me." 

He  paused  a  moment,  wondering  as  a  bystander 
who  knew  his  heart  might  wonder  at  the  profanity 
and  wickedness  of  what  he  was  saying,  since  all 
the  time  he  was  merely  disarming  her  possible 
suspicions  in  order  to  be  able  to  go  to  his  cabin 
and  be  alone  to  unlock  the  despatch-box.  He  real- 
ized, too,  that  it  would  require  a  greater  potency 
than  a  quarter  dose  to  enable  him  to  forget  what 
he  had  just  said,  and  slide  blissfully  off  into  that 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      229 

state  of  consciousness  which  alone  was  worthy 
of  the  name  of  life.  Half  a  dose  surely  would 
not  hurt  him;  half  a  dose,  that  is  to  say,  of  the 
bigger  doses  which  he  had  prescribed  for  himself. 
There  was,  too,  a  little  more  to  be  said  yet.  In- 
complete lying  was  ever  a  tactical  error.  And  his 
brain,  flaming  with  desire,  should  make  his  next 
words  absolutely  convincing  to  his  sister. 

"  Sir  James  is  a  very  clever  doctor,  no  doubt," 
he  said,  "  but  he  certainly  made  a  mistake  when 
he  thought  my  will-power  was  dead,  or  something 
to  that  effect.  I  am  glad  he  said  it,  and  I  am 
glad  you  told  me,  because  that  sort  of  opinion  acts 
as  a  tonic.  I  will  show  him  if  it  is  dead.  And  did 
he  really  suppose  I  should  consent  to  go  to  sea 
for  a  week  without  opium,  if  I  did  not  mean  to 
be  cured  in  spite  of  him!  ' 

The  desire  was  inflaming  his  brain  more  and 
more  every  moment,  making  it  supernaturally 
cunning.  He  detected  a  possible  error  in  those 
last  words;  he  had  protested  a  little  too  much. 
But  that  again  was  easily  rectified. 

' l  I  shouldn  't  have  said  '  in  spite  of  him,  *  ; '  he 
said,  "  because  that  makes  it  appear  as  if  I 
thought  that,  having  given  me  up,  he  didn't  wish 
me  to  get  well.  But,  my  goodness,  how  his  pre- 
scription of  sea-air  is  acting  already.  I  was  a 
log  when  I  started ;  and  now,  Maud,  am  not  I  dif- 
ferent! And  about  your  fear  that  I  shouldn't 


230      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

have  come  if  I  had  known  what  our  ultimate  goal 
is,  I  am  more  than  reconciled  to  it.  I  am  im- 
patient to  get  there.  So  we  have  finished  our 
talk,  have  we  not?  I  have  said  all  I  wish  to  say. 
My  recovery,  if  I  am  to  recover,  is  left  in  other 
hands,  the  best,  the  only  ones.  I  can  only  say 
that  with  all  the  power  of  will  that  is  in  me,  I 
elect  to  leave  myself  there.  And  if  that  is  not 
to  be,  you  may  know  that,  though  too  late,  I  was 
willing. ' ' 

Again  he  wondered  at  his  wickedness,  but  did 
not  regret  it.  It  was  so  vastly  more  important 
than  anything  else  to  be  able  to  get  to  his  cabin 
without  Maud  following  him,  or  being  suspicious 
in  any  way.  He  could  evoke  his  visions  almost 
at  will,  and  now  he  wanted  to  see  the  sky,  as  he 
had  seen  it  up  in  Caithness,  covered  with  blue 
acanthus  leaves,  with  the  star's  dewdrops  upon 
them,  and  the  big  sun  a  golden  centre  of  a  blue 
flower.  Nor  did  Maud's  words  shake  his  desire, 
solemn  though  they  were.  They  just  went  by 
him  like  a  breeze  past  a  well-built  house. 

11  Oh,  thank  God,  Thurso,  thank  God!"  she 
said.  "  And  I  have  said  all,  too.  You  will  get 
well.  I  know  it,  since  you  feel  like  that.  And 
now  let  us  dismiss  altogether  what  is  past.  It 
wasn't  you  who  did  all  this,  it  was  just  evil  pos- 
session. But  that  is  driven  out  now;  your  words 
have  told  me  that. ' ' 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      231 

Bells  for  meals  were  very  frequent  on  this  ship, 
and  Maud,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  thoroughly 
well  pleased  with  their  frequency,  for  she  had  at 
sea  that  huge  sense  of  bodily  health  that  requires 
much  to  eat  and  many  hours  to  sleep.  The  de- 
sire for  sleep  was  shared  by  Thurso,  and  when 
just  as  she  finished  speaking  the  bell  for  tea 
tinkled  up  and  down  the  deck,  she  went  down  to 
the  saloon,  and  he  to  his  cabin  with  the  expressed 
intention  not  to  appear  till  dinner-time,  nor  in- 
deed then  if  he  felt  disinclined  to  move.  This  de- 
sire for  sleep,  Sir  James  had  said,  was  one  that 
should  be  gratified  to  the  full,  and  when  they 
parted  in  the  vestibule  that  led  on  the  one  side 
to  the  cabins  and  on  the  other  to  the  saloon,  it 
was  a  possible  good-night  that  Maud  wished  him. 
His  valet  would  bring  his  dinner  to  his  cabin  in 
case  he  did  not  appear. 

Till  that  afternoon,  when  at  last  Thurso  showed 
that  his  will  was  not  dead  yet,  that  his  face  was 
set  forward,  that  something  of  spring  and  the 
power  of  rebound  was  in  him  yet,  Maud  had  not 
known  how  near  despair  she  had  been,  or  how 
forlorn  did  she  in  her  inmost  self  feel  that  this 
hope  was  for  which  she  was  bringing  him  over 
sea.  Slender  and  dim  as  it  had  been,  she  had  still 
clung  to  it,  and  now  how  strong  and  firm  it  sud- 
denly became,  when  she  knew  that  Thurso  re- 


232      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

sponded  to  it  too,  and  was  willing,  eager  indeed, 
to  put  himself  into  the  hands  of  Infinite  Love  to 
work  for  him  the  miracle  which  the  finite  skill  of 
mortal  treatment  despaired  of  accomplishing.  In 
that  great  upspringing  of  hope  and  joy  which  had 
come  to  her  that  afternoon  the  confined  walls  of 
the  dining-saloon  could  not  hold  her  long;  her 
instinct  was  to  be  up  again  on  deck  between  the 
huge  sea  and  the  huge  sky,  so  as  to  let  her  soul 
go  forth  without  the  distraction  of  near  objects 
and  the  proximity  of  other  human  beings  into  the 
presence  of  Divine  Love.  All  this  autumn  she 
had  been  realizing  slowly  and  dimly  (for  when 
evil  and  ruin  were  so  close  about  her,  it  was  hard 
not  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  them)  that  only 
one  power — that  of  God — had  any  true  existence, 
that  all  else  was  false.  But  now  that  realization 
was  being  poured  into  her  in  floods,  the  dawn  was 
growing  dazzlingly  bright,  for  already  the  miracle 
had  begun,  already  hope  had  begun  to  spring  from 
what  doctors  had  declared  was  soil  utterly  barren, 
incapable  of  bearing  fruit. 

The  upper  deck  was  quite  empty  when  she  came 
up  again,  the  sun  had  already  set,  and  in  the 
darkening  skies  the  stars  had  begun  to  come 
forth,  and  she  walked  forward  to  the  bows  of  the 
ship  in  order  to  be  quite  alone.  The  very  rush 
of  air  round  her,  as  the  boat  hissed  forward  into 
the  west,  where  light  still  lingered,  seemed  to  her 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     233 

extraordinarily  typical  of  what  was  happening 
spiritually  to  her.  All  around  her  lay  the  tossed 
darkness  and  billows  of  the  unquiet  sea,  but  just 
as  this  mighty  ship  went  smoothly  and  evenly 
through  them,  so  through  the  waves  and  fretful 
foam  of  human  trouble  her  soul  went  straight 
towards  the  brightness  in  the  west.  She  had 
doubted  before,  she  had  often  and  often  striven 
to  realize  what  she  in  her  inmost  soul  believed; 
but  her  unbelief  still  needed  help.  But  now  help 
was  brought  to  it. 

' '  Yes,  it  is  so ;  it  must  be  so, ' '  she  said  to  her- 
self. "  For  nothing  can  exist  by  the  side  of  the 
Infinite;  all  else  must  vanish." 

She  walked  back  along  the  decks  that  were  be- 
ginning to  shimmer  with  dew,  unconscious  of  all 
else  in  the  wonder  and  glory  of  the  truth  that 
was  falling  in  golden  rain  round  her.  And  be- 
low her  feet,  a  few  yards  only  away,  Thurso  was 
lying  in  his  berth,  not  asleep,  but  very  vividly 
awake,  in  his  own  hell-paradise.  He  looked  no 
longer  on  the  bare  white  walls  of  his  cabin,  for 
blue  acanthus  leaves  covered  it,  and  the  stars 
shone  like  dewdrops  on  them,  and  in  the  centre 
the  sun  was  the  golden  heart  of  an  azure  flower. 
It  had  required  a  full  dose,  and  no  quarter  or  half 
measure,  to  bring  him  there,  but  he  was  there 
now.  One  thing  only  troubled  him  a  little,  and 
that  not  much,  it  was  only  like  an  echo,  not  an 


234      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

authentic  voice,  and  that  was  the  memory  of  the 
words  with  which  he  had  so  comforted  his  sister. 
He  could  not  remember  exactly  what  they  were, 
but  they  were  very  solemn.  Well,  that  could  not 
be  helped  now,  but  he  wished  he  could  get  rid  of 
the  feeling  they  gave  him.  He  could  not  abandon 
himself  absolutely  and  utterly  to  the  bliss  of  his 
vision.  They  came  between  him  and  it  like  a  little 
film  of  gray. 

As  a  rule,  he  slept  well,  especially  after  an 
opium  debauch.  But  to-night,  when,  soon  after 
he  had  eaten  a  little  dinner  which  his  valet 
brought  him,  he  undressed  and  went  to  bed,  he 
felt  not  exactly  staring  wide-awake,  but  dully, 
stupidly  awake.  It  was  now  about  eleven,  and 
since  the  effects  of  the  opium  usually  wore  off 
after  six  or  seven  hours,  leaving  him,  as  the 
vividness  of  sensation  begun  to  fade,  very  sleepy 
and  languid,  he  could  not  account  for  his  inability 
to  sleep.  Then  his  disquiet  began  to  take  more 
definite  form.  He  felt  as  if  somebody,  Maud,  was 
in  his  cabin,  looking  at  him  with  that  bright  face 
of  thankfulness  which  she  had  turned  on  him  at 
the  end  of  their  interview  on  the  deck.  This  con- 
viction became  so  vivid  that  he  spoke  to  her,  call- 
ing her  by  name.  She  did  not  answer,  and  he 
turned  on  his  light  to  convince  himself  that  she 
was  not  there. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     235 

So  he  put  it  out  and  lay  down  again,  but  no 
sooner  had  he  closed  his  eyes  and  tried  to  com- 
pose himself  to  sleep  when  the  same  feeling  of 
her  presence,  more  definite  than  ever,  again  vis- 
ited him.  She  was  quite  close  to  him,  and  he 
knew  as  well  as  if  she  put  it  into  words  what  filled 
her  brain.  It  was  all  about  him.  She  was  say- 
ing to  him  again  and  again,  "  You  are  feeling 
better;  God  is  making  you  better,  dear  Thurso. 
You  are  coming  straight  to  Him,  and  no  sin  or 
evil  or  sickness  can  exist  in  His  Presence."  And 
together  with  this,  the  memory  of  his  words  to 
her,  which  had  so  comforted  her,  came  back  with 
added  vividness.  He  remembered  what  he  had 
said  now;  he  had  used  the  strongest  and  most 
solemn  words  he  could,  so  that  he  could  go  at 
once  to  his  cabin  and — do  what  he  had  done. 

This  lying  here  grew  intolerable,  he  was  getting 
more  acutely  awake  every  moment,  and  as  he 
grew  more  awake  the  more  he  was  aware  of 
Maud's  presence.  Was  it  perhaps  some  warn- 
ing, did  it  mean  that  she  was  in  danger  of  any 
kind,  and  that,  as  at  the  hour  of  death,  her 
soul  sought  his  so  vehemently  that  it  produced 
the  hallucination  of  her  presence?  The  next  mo- 
ment he  had  jumped  out  of  his  berth  and  put  on 
a  few  hasty  clothes,  in  order  to  go  to  her  cabin 
and  see  if  she  was  all  right.  Yet  at  the  door  he 
hesitated.  He  could  not  face  her;  he  would  be- 


236      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

tray  himself;  his  eyes  and  mouth  would  betray 
him,  and  she  would  see  what  he  had  been  doing. 
But  anxiety  for  her  overmastered  him,  and  he 
went  and  tapped  at  her  door. 

She  answered  at  once  and  he  went  in.  She  was 
still  fully  dressed,  and  seated  on  a  chair  by  the 
bed,  her  face  radiant  in  happiness. 

"  Not  in  bed  yet?  "  he  said. 

"  No,  I  was  too  happy  to  go  to  bed." 

Then  as  she  looked  at  him  she  paused. 

* '  What  is  the  matter,  Thurso  I  What  have  you 
come  to  me  for?  '• 

He  could  not  meet  her  eye,  but  looked  away. 

"  I  couldn't  sleep,"  he  said.  "  I  kept  think- 
ing you  were  in  the  room.  I  came  to  see  if  you 
were  all  right." 

She  gave  a  long  sigh. 

11  You  have  been  taking  laudanum  again,"  she 
said.  "  Anyhow,  you  came  to  tell  me  that." 

He  looked  back  fiercely  at  her. 

"  I  haven't,"  he  said.  "  What  do  you  mean? 
j » 

And  then  his  voice  failed  him ;  his  lips  stuttered 
over  a  few  words  more,  but  no  sound  came.  She 
entirely  disregarded  his  denial ;  she  did  not  seem 
even  to  have  heard  it. 

"  I  was  in  your  cabin,"  she  said.  "  All  my 
soul  was  there.  Oh,  Thurso,  don't  despair." 

Then  something  seemed  to  break  within  him. 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      237 

He  could  not  go  on  telling  lies  to  her;  for  the 
moment,  perhaps  because  he  was  so  tired,  he  could 
not  call  up  the  energy  to  protest.  It  was  simpler, 
too,  to  tell  her. 

"  Yes,  it  is  hopeless,"  he  said;  "  it  is  no  good 
trying.  As  soon  as  my  strength  came  back  to 
me  a  little  to-day  the  craving  came  back.  I 
brought  a  bottle  of  the  stuff  with  me.  Oh,  yes, 
I  told  you  I  hadn't.  I  lied.  All  the  time  I  only 
wanted  one  thing,  to  get  away  to  my  cabin.  I 
didn't  care  what  I  said.  Now  I  suppose  you 
will  want  me  to  give  you  up  the  rest  of  it.  Well, 
I  can't.  Now  that  I  have  taken  it  again,  I  find  I 
don't  want  anything  but  that.  It's  no  use  you're 
thinking  I  can  get  better,  or  get  over  it.  I  have 
given  myself  up.  You  had  better  do  so,  too." 

For  one  moment  Maud  felt  that  he  spoke  the 
truth — he  was  beyond  power  of  recall.  But  the 
next  her  whole  soul  and  strength  was  up  in  arms 
fighting  that  thought,  passionately  reversing  it. 
There  was  nothing  in  the  world  so  true  as  In- 
finite Love;  she  had  known  that  this  afternoon, 
and  already  she  was  letting  error  obscure  it. 
Vehemently,  furiously  she  fought  it,  and  then 
suddenly  she  wondered  what  she  had  been  fight- 
ing. For  there  was  nothing  there — her  blows 
were  rained  upon  emptiness.  It  was  as  if  she 
had  dreamed  she  was  fighting.  For  there  was 
nothing  to  fight.  And  she  spoke  to  Thurso  as  she 


238      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

might  have  spoken  to  a  child  who  was  afraid  of 
the  dark. 

"  You  silly  boy!  "  she  said.  "  What  can  you 
mean  by  such  nonsense?  How  can  I  give  you 
up?  How  can  I  give  up  my  love  for  you?  That 
is  the  one  thing  nobody  can  give  up.  And  you 
are  frightened,  you  know.  How  can  you  be 
frightened,  when  there  is  nothing  in  the  world 
to  frighten  you?  You  said  this  afternoon  things 
that  made  me  unutterably  happy,  and  now  you 
come  and  say  they  were  lies,  that  you  didn't 
mean  them.  I  am  sorry  you  didn't  mean  them; 
but  they  weren't  lies.  Perhaps  you  spoke  the 
truth  by  accident." 

That  sombre  smouldering  of  despair  in  his  eyes 
faded. 

"  Do  you  mean  you  can  possibly  trust  me 
now?  "  he  said. 

Then  he  added  quickly : 

"  But  I  can't  give  up  the  bottle  to  you." 

Maud  almost  laughed. 

"  Well,  if  you  can't,  you  can't,"  she  said. 
"  And  now  I'm  going  to  see  you  back  to  your 
cabin,  and  you  are  going  to  bed.  You  have  had 
a  dreadful  evening,  dear,  over  these  nightmare 
errors.  I  am  so  sorry ;  oh,  Thurso,  I  am  so  sorry ! 
And  if  you  feel  me  in  the  room  again,  you  mustn't 
be  frightened,  or  think  there  is  anything  wrong. ' ' 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     239 

He  said  nothing  to  this,  and  they  went  down 
the  narrow  passage  to  his  cabin  in  silence. 

"  And  you've  had  dinner?  "  she  asked.  "  You 
won't  be  hungry  before  morning?  It's  only  just 
one,  you  know.  I  could  get  you  something." 

"  No,  nothing,  thanks,"  he  said.  Then  his  eye 
fell  on  the  despatch-box,  and  he  stood  looking  at 
it  a  moment.  Then  he  took  a  bunch  of  keys  from 
his  pocket,  detached  one,  and  flung  it  on  the 
ground. 

"  That's  the  key,"  he  said,  "  and  it  is  inside 
the  despatch-box.  You  may  take  it  if  you  like." 

That  radiance  in  the  girl's  face  that  had  left 
her  only  for  a  moment  glowed  and  shone  with  a 
double  light.  But  she  made  no  movement  to  pick 
up  the  key. 

"  Dear   Thurso,  where   are  your  manners?  ' 
she  said.     "  That  really  is  not  the  proper  way 
to  give  me  a  key." 

11  I  won't  give  it  you  in  any  other,"  said  he. 

She  longed  to  pick  it  up  herself;  she  could 
hardly  restrain  herself  from  doing  so;  but  she 
longed  also  that,  strengthened  by  this  first  ef- 
fort, he  should  make  another,  give  her  the  key 
voluntarily. 

11  Then  I'm  afraid  it  must  stop  where  it  is," 
she  said.  "  Good-night!  " 

He  turned  with  a  frown  to  her. 

"  Oh,  Maud,  you  fool !  "  he  said.    "  Why  don't 


240      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

you  take  it  while  I  can  just  manage  to  give  it 
you?  " 

"  Because  you  must  give  it  me  like  a  gentle- 
man, of  course,"  she  said. 

Ah,  how  pleasant  and  human  were  the  dealings 
of  Love!  Half  an  hour  ago  tragedy,  sordid,  bit- 
ter and  heart-breaking,  had  been  hers,  and  now 
not  only  was  comedy  here,  but  sheer  farce,  mirth- 
ful, productive  of  silly,  childish  laughter.  Thurso 
laughed,  too,  as  he  bent  down  and  picked  up  the 
key. 

"  You  are  an  obstinate  woman,"  he  said. 

1  i  I  know.    Thank  you,  darling !  ' 

She  undid  the  despatch-box. 

"  Oh,  Thurso,  what  a  big  bottle!  "  she  said. 

But  the  sight  of  it  kindled  and  enflamed  him 
again. 

"  Ah,  give  it  me  back,"  he  said;  "  I  can't  let 
you  have  it.  I  told  you  I  couldn't." 

Maud  was  nearest  the  door,  and  she  simply 
ran  out  of  the  cabin  with  the  bottle.  She  made 
not  half  a  dozen  steps  of  the  stairs  that  led  to  the 
deck,  and  before  half  a  minute  was  past  a  large 
bottle  of  laudanum  was  sinking  in  a  lonely  and 
desolate  manner  through  the  abysmal  floods  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

"  That's  an  end  to  the  harm  you'll  do,"  she 
said  to  herself,  without  a  grain  of  pity. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      241 

But  in  spite  of  this  brilliant  victory,  she  knew 
well  that  there  must  be  many  uphill  battles  to  fight 
before  recovery  could  be  in  sight — Walter  Coch- 
ran  had  told  her  that  in  a  letter  she  had  received 
from  him  just  before  she  left  England.  He  had 
answered  at  once  to  her  cable  by  another,  merely 
saying  that  "  he  would  cure  Thurso,"  and  had 
written  fully  afterwards.  The  letter  ended  thus: 
"  I  know  that  you  believe  in  the  infinite  and  om- 
nipotent Mind,  which  is  the  sole  and  only  cause 
of  all  the  world,  and  though  you  are  not  a  mem- 
ber of  our  church  at  present,  yet  since  you  be- 
lieve the  Gospel  on  which  every  cure  that  Chris- 
tian Science  has  ever  made  is  based,  begin  treat- 
ing him  at  once  yourself.  Combat  in  your  mind 
every  sign  of  error  you  see  in  him,  and  never  be 
discouraged.  Of  course,  good  must  triumph,  but 
when  error  is  so  firmly  rooted  in  a  man  it  wants 
some  pulling  up;  it  won't  come  away  as  a  mere 
shallow-rooted  weed  will.  You  will  have  to  face 
apparent  failure  again  and  again,  but  remember 
that  you  are  always  on  the  winning  side." 

The  days  that  followed  amply  illustrated  this, 
and  there  were  many  hours  when  she  almost  de- 
spaired. Every  evil,  erring  mood  that  had  made 
up  his  record  for  the  last  six  months  was  crammed 
into  the  days  of  that  voyage.  Sometimes  his  will 
would  flicker  in  a  little  dim  flame,  so  that  she 
knew  it  was  not  yet  quenched;  but  the  flame  was 


242      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

feeble,  and  the  blacknesses  that  surrounded  it 
were  dense.  One  day  he  went  to  the  ship's  doc- 
tor, bringing  with  him  the  prescription,  which 
he  knew  by  heart,  and  had  himself  written  out 
and  signed  with  Sir  James  Sanderson's  name, 
asking  him  to  have  it  made  up.  The  doctor 
read  it. 

"  Certainly,  Lord  Thurso,"  he  said.  "  I  will 
have  it  sent  to  your  cabin.  It  is  rather  strong, 
you  know.  You  will  be  careful  how  you  use  it. 
It  is  to  relieve  pain,  I  suppose?  ' 

"  Yes,  I  suffer  from  very  bad  neuralgic  head- 
aches," said  Thurso.  "  Thank  you  very  much." 

He  left  the  surgery,  his  heart  beating  with  ex- 
hilarated anticipation,  when  suddenly  the  doctor, 
who  was  looking  at  the  prescription  again,  gave 
a  little  whistle,  and  then  called  him.  Thurso  had 
hardly  left  the  room,  and  came  back  at  once. 

"  Lord  Thurso,  this  is  rather  odd,"  he  said. 
"  But  this  prescription  is  written  on  the  ship's 
paper.  Is  Sir  James  on  board?  " 

Thurso  made  a  furious  gesture  of  impatience. 

"  Oh,  for  God's  sake,  give  it  me!  "  he  said. 
"  I  shall  go  mad  without  it.  It  was  Sir  James's 
prescription.  I — I  copied  it." 

The  doctor  shook  his  head,  for  he  saw  plainly 
enough  now  what  he  was  dealing  with. 

"  It  is  quite  impossible,"  he  said.    "  I  am  very 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      243 

sorry.  Of  course,  this  matter  shall  go  no  fur- 
ther." 

Thurso  merely  walked  away;  there  was  noth- 
ing more  to  be  said,  and  then  suddenly  the  little 
flicker  of  will  and  of  outraged  self-respect  began 
to  shoot  up  again,  and  he  saw  how  mean  it  all 
was.  He,  Thurso,  had  not  only  forged  this,  but 
he  had  been  caught  at  it ;  it  had  happened  before, 
too.  This  powerlessness  of  his  against  his  de- 
sire was  intolerable;  his  pride  rebelled  against 
the  hideous  strength  of  his  weakness. 

He  leaned  against  the  bulwarks  of  the  ship  in 
despair  at  himself,  yet  since  for  the  moment  he 
was  ashamed,  since  he  wished  he  was  not  such  a 
despicable  fellow,  the  despair  was  not  complete. 
But  perhaps  it  would  be  better  all  round  if  he 
ceased  to  struggle  or  to  be  at  all.  One  moment 
of  bravery,  one  leap  into  those  huge  gray  mon- 
sters of  waves  that  were  making  even  this  levi- 
athan of  the  seas  sway  and  rock,  and  it  would 
all  be  over.  But  he  had  not,  he  knew,  even  the 
courage  for  that.  No  moral  quality  seemed  to 
be  left  him;  they  had  all  been  transformed  into 
this  hideous  desire,  as  a  cancer  turns  the  whole- 
some blood  and  living  tissues  into,  its  own  putre- 
fying growth.  And  what  if  that  doctor  told 
some  one?  He  had  said  that  it  should  go  no  fur- 
ther, but  who  could  resist  so  savory  a  bit  of 
scandal?  Lord  Thurso  forging  Sir  James  San- 


derson's  name  in  order  to  get  laudanum,  to 
which  he  was  a  slave!  That  would  make  a  fine 
head-line,  if  tastefully  arranged  for  some  New 
York  paper. 

Or  again  he  would  rail  at  Maud,  laying  tongue 
to  any  bitter  falsehood  that  he  could  invent,  or 
he  would  sit  in  mere  idle  despair,  which  she  found 
harder  to  endure,  without  suffering  herself  to 
despair  also,  than  anything  else.  It  was  all  error, 
it  was  the  unreal,  the  mortal,  the  non-existent 
part  of  him  that  suffered;  but  it  was  very  hard 
to  cling  to  the  truth  of  that,  as  to  the  Bock  of 
Ages,  and  not  let  the  sea  of  error  wash  her  away. 

But  after  this  not  very  brilliant  attempt  to  get 
laudanum  from  the  ship's  doctor,  Thurso  made 
no  further  effort  in  that  direction,  and  now  and 
then  there  were  little  rifts  in  that  storm  of  error 
that  was  so  dark  and  gray  above  him.  He  told 
Maud,  for  instance,  about  the  forged  prescrip- 
tion, a  thing  which  was  hard  for  him  to  do,  and 
more  than  once,  also,  when  for  an  hour  perhaps 
he  had  sat  inventing  bitter  things  in  order  to 
wound  her,  he  would  stop  suddenly. 

"  Maud,  I'm  an  utter  brute,"  he  would  say. 
•"  But  try  to  cling  to  your  belief  that  it  is  not  I." 

Then  Maud  would  look  at  him  with  lip  that 
quivered,  and  eyes  that  were  brimming  with  un- 
shed tears. 

"  Oh,  Thurso,  I  know  that,"  she  said.    "  And 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      245 

if  I  forget  it  now  and  then,  and  feel  wounded, 
thinking  that  it  is  you  who  have  been  saying  those 
things,  I — I  know  it  is  not  so  really. ' ' 

Throughout  the  voyage,  too,  his  mere  bodily 
health  and  strength  was  steadily  though  slowly 
on  the  mend.  He  put  on  a  little  flesh;  there  was 
a  little  more  brightness  of  eye  and  clearness  of 
skin  than  when  he  left  England,  and  this  seemed 
to  her  a  visible  sign  of  the  truth  of  what  she  be- 
lieved. "With  all  her  heart,  too,  she  set  herself 
to  reverse  and  to  forget  the  warning  that  Sir 
James  had  given  her — that  as  his  strength  began 
to  return,  so  the  strength  of  his  craving  would 
return.  On  the  first  day  or  two  of  the  voyage,  it 
is  true,  that  had  seemed  to  be  the  case,  and  Thurso 
had  felt  it  to  be  so  himself,  but  she  had  not  then 
set  herself,  as  she  did  now,  hour  after  hour,  to 
fight  and  vanquish  any  such  tendency  in  him. 
"With  heart  lifted  high  with  hope  and  faith,  she 
denied  that.  She  affirmed  that  his  health,  being 
a  good  thing,  it  could  not  let  itself  be  a  slave  to 
an  evil  thing,  for  thus  evil  would  be  stronger  than 
good — a  thing  unthinkable.  No,  the  strength  that 
was  coming  back  to  him,  slowly  indeed,  meant  so 
many  efforts,  so  many  repulses  of  that  mortal 
and  earthly  habit  that  had  become  so  intimate  a 
guest  of  his  soul.  That  hideous,  dwarfish  shape 
which  he  had  admitted,  with  its  blear  eyes,  its 
trembling  hands,  clothed  in  the  shroud  and  cere- 


246      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

merits  of  sensuality,  was  being  pushed  and 
dragged  out  again.  It  was  hard  work,  none  knew 
that  better  than  she,  but  failure  was  impossible, 
and  well  she  knew  that.  When  at  last  they  got  it 
to  the  door  of  his  soul,  and  got  that  door  open  so 
that  the  sunshine  of  infinite  Love  poured  in,  with 
what  cry  of  joyful  amazement  would  he  see  that 
that  dreadful  figure  that  seemed  now  so  real  was 
nothing,  that  it  had  no  real  existence.  It  was 
cheating  them  all  the  time,  she  knew ;  it  was  only 
in  the  twilight  of  his  soul  that  what  was  only  a 
shadow  seemed  to  be  real. 

Now  and  then,  too,  the  real  Thurso,  the  kindly, 
courteous  gentleman  who  had  been  to  her  so  well- 
loved  a  brother,  came  back,  and  he  and  Maud 
would  talk  about  old  days  before  ever  this  shadow 
blackened  his  path. 

And  they  would  live  over  again  in  that  light 
of  memory,  which  often  lends  a  vividness  to  that 
which  is  remembered  which  it  did  not  have  in 
life,  some  windy,  notable  day  on  the  moors  when 
Thurso  shot  three  stags,  or  some  memorable  morn- 
ing by  the  river  when  Maud  killed  six  salmon 
before  lunch. 

"  Oh,  Thurso,  and  I  should  have  killed  the 
seventh,  do  you  remember,  but  I  let  the  line  get 
round  that  rock  in  the  roaring  pool  and  he 
broke  me." 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      247 

"  By  gosh,  I  remember,"  he  said.  "  You 
nearly  cried.  Lord,  what  good  days  they  were! 
I  was  awfully  happy  all  that  summer.  I  had 
hideous  neuralgia,  I  remember,  and  it  rather 
spoiled  my  pleasure,  but  it  didn't  spoil  my  hap- 
piness. How  do  you  explain  that?  " 

"  Why,  nothing  can  spoil  one's  happiness," 
she  said,  answering  his  question  without  thought. 
"  All  happiness ' 

But  he  got  up  suddenly. 

"  I  get  the  heart-ache  to  think  of  it  all,"  he 
said. 

She  rose  too. 

"  Ah,  Thurso,  it  will  come  back, ".she  said. 

He  looked  at  her  with  a  sudden  face  of  gloom. 

"And  you?"  he  asked.  "And  Lily?  How 
can  either  of  you  forget  ?  It  is  absurd  to  say  that 
things  can  be  the  same.  Not  even  God  can  put 
the  clock  back,  and  say  it  is  yesterday. ' ' 

' f  No,  dear, ' '  she  said, ' '  but  the  sun  rises  again, 
and  to-day  becomes  to-morrow.  '  Heaviness  may 
endure  for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morn- 
ing.' " 

The  bitter  mood  was  pouring  in  on  him  again. 

"  Ah,  a  phrase!  "  he  said. 
.     "  Yes,  but  a  true  one,"  she  answered. 

But  these  hours  were  short  and  rare,  and  it 
was  seldom  that  he  was  even  able  to  think  regret- 


248      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

fully  of  the  past.  For  the  most  part  he  was  sus- 
picious and  bitter,  or  silent,  full  only  of  the  one 
deadly  desire.  All  day  it  was  in  his  mind,  and 
at  night  he  dreamed  of  it.  But  as  the  days  that 
must  elapse  before  they  reached  New  York  be- 
gan to  be  reckoned  by  hours,  his  despair  and  dis- 
piritedness  were  sensibly  lessened.  Maud  no- 
ticed that,  and  sometimes  he  spoke  hopefully  of 
the  new  cure  that  was  to  be  tried;  yet  as  often 
as  he  did  this  his  voice  rang  as  false  as  a  cracked 
bell,  and  she  knew  it  was  not  this  that  he  loo.ked 
forward  to,  but  to  escaping  from  the  prison  of 
a  ship,  where  his  desire  was  denied  him,  on  to 
the  comparative  freedom  of  dry  land,  where  there 
were  chemists,  drug-stores.  .  .  .  Yet  with 
his  returning  strength  his  craving  no  longer 
seemed  to  grow  proportionately.  There  was  some 
check  on  it,  unanticipated  by  Sir  James.  He 
wanted  the  drug;  she  knew  that,  and  his  brain, 
she  felt  sure,  was  scheming  to  get  it.  But  the 
madness  and  raving  of  desire  had  not  appeared, 
and  already  they  were  steaming  slowly  up  to  the 
relentless  city. 

Thurso  and  she  were  standing  on  deck  together 
as  they  drew  near,  on  a  morning  of  crystalline 
brightness.  The  land  was  white  with  snow,  but 
the  air  was  windless,  and  she  felt  that  even  the 
town,  which  has  the  credit  of  possessing  not  the 
worst  climate  in  the  world,  had  its  beautiful  days. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      249 

Higher  and  higher  rose  the  huge,  many-storied 
buildings,  and  from  the  pale  blue  of  the  winter 
sky  they  passed  into  the  region  of  gray  smoke 
that  overhung  the  city.  From  the  wide,  tenant- 
less  space  of  the  ocean  they  slid  into  more  popu- 
lous waters ;  stately  liners  were  leaving  for  east- 
ward ports,  and  in  a  moment  from  the  desert  of 
the  high  seas  they  passed  into  the  crowded  water- 
ways, full  of  broad-decked  ferry  steamers,  and 
the  innumerable  hooting  of  sirens.  Already,  be- 
fore they  touched  the  shore,  each  felt  that  stimulus- 
of  air  and  intense  activity  which  New  York  ex- 
hales— the  atmosphere  of  continuous,  unremitting 
effort,  that  makes  every  other  town  in  the  world 
seem  dronish  and  lazy. 

The  huge  bulk  of  their  ship  moved  up  to  its 
berth,  towed  in  sideways,  like  some  tired  fish,  by 
two  or  three  tiny,  bustling  tugs.  And  on  the  land- 
ing dock  Maud  saw  a  figure  she  knew,  tall  and 
serene,  with  no  great-coat  on,  for  all  the  chilli- 
ness of  the  morning,  and  across  the  space  of 
water  that  separated  them  her  heart  leaped  lightly 
to  him.  She  did  not  consciously  think  of  herself;; 
it  was  of  Thurso  she  consciously  thought  when 
she  saw  there  the  man  who  had  flicked  across  the 
ocean  the  message  that  "  he  would  cure  him," 
but  subconsciously,  and  not  less  eagerly,  she 
leaped  to  him  because  he  was  he.  Then  she  turned 
to  Thurso. 


250      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

11  There  is  Mr.  Cochran,"  she  said.  "  How 
kind  of  him  to  have  come  down  to  meet  us !  " 

It  was  yet  a  long  time  before  the  ship  was 
berthed  and  the  landing-planks  pnt  out,  and 
Maud  had  not  known  how  his  heart,  too,  had 
leaped  on  board  when  he  had  caught  sight  of  them 
standing  on  deck.  To  him,  too,  the  leap  had  been 
double — he  longed  to  save  the  one  from  mental 
error,  he  longed  to  draw  near  to  the  other  with 
that  flame  of  human  love  which  yet  has  been 
kindled  at  the  fire  which  is  divine. 

Then  they  met,  all  three. 


CHAPTER   IX 

WALTER  COCHRAN  had  taken  them  straight 
across  to  their  house  on  Long  Island,  near  Port 
Washington,  and  had  returned  in  the  evening  to 
his  own  flat  in  Fifth  Avenue.  As  regards  Thurso, 
the  spiritual  conflict  of  the  Divine  and  Infinite 
over  the  mortal  and  finite  had  begun,  and  of  the 
ultimate  issue  of  that  he  had  no  doubts  whatever. 
But  there  was  another  conflict  no  less  hard  be- 
fore him,  and  as  he  sat  now  for  a  few  minutes 
after  eating  his  one  dish  of  vegetables,  which  was 
his  dinner,  he  brought  all  his  force  to  bear  on 
that.  For  to-morrow,  at  the  joint  request  of 
Thurso  and  his  sister,  he  was  going  down  to 
their  house  to  stay  with  them.  That  arrange- 
ment he  could  not  refuse — since  they  were  so  kind 
as  to  ask  him.  It  was  simpler  and  better  in  every 
way,  as  regards  the  cure  he  knew  he  was  going 
to  effect,  to  do  so.  Thus,  all  day  he  would  see 
and  be  with  the  girl  whom  he  loved,  with  that  in- 
tensity which  made  him  the  healer  that  he  was. 
Yet,  since,  because  he  would  be  there  simply  as  a 
healer,  and  since  except  as  a  healer  he  would 
never  have  been  there,  he  knew  that  he  must  en- 
tirely swamp  and  drown  the  desire  of  his  life.  He 


252      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

must  say  no  word,  make  no  sign.  Even  that  was 
not  enough,  he  feared.  He  must  school  himself  to 
feel  no  longing,  he  must  drown  his  love  while  he 
was  there.  For  he  was  there  only  as  one  who 
could  bring  the  power  of  God  to  bear  on  this  man, 
who  was  obscured  by  error.  That  was  the  sole 
reason  for  his  presence  there.  And  as  he  sat  here 
now,  he  wondered  if  he  was  strong  enough  to  do 
what  he  knew  he  must  do,  or  whether  it  was  bet- 
ter to  refuse  to  go  to  Long  Island  at  all,  but  send 
somebody  else.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  him- 
self promised  to  cure  Thurso ;  they  had  come  from 
England  on  the  strength  of  that  promise.  But 
would  it  not  be  better  to  break  that  than  to  lead 
himself  into  the  temptation  of  using  for  his  own 
ends  the  opportunity  that  had  been  given  to  him, 
and  accepted  by  him,  for  the  purpose  of  demon- 
strating the  eternal  truth,  which  was  more  real 
than  any  human  love? 

The  cold  outside  was  intense;  it  had  come  on 
to  freeze  sharply  at  sunset,  but  he  got  up  and  set 
his  window  open.  The  aid  it  gave  him  was  ad- 
ventitious only,  but  he  found  it  easier  to  detach 
himself  from  the  myriad  distractions  of  mortal 
mind,  if  instead  of  the  closed  atmosphere  of  a 
room,  the  taintless  air  of  out-of-doors  came  in 
upon  him.  Very  possibly  that  was  a  mere  claim 
of  mortal  mind,  but  it  was  better  to  yield  to  such 
a  claim  when  it  was  clearly  innocent,  if  it  told 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      253 

him  that  the  working  of  the  immortal  was  thereby 
made  easier,  than  to  waste  energy  in  fighting  such 
a  claim.  And  then,  as  he  had  done  before  when 
he  went  out  to  the  bedside  of  Sandy  Mackenzie, 
he  called  his  thoughts  home.  Thoughts  of  the 
day  and  the  sea,  and  the  sunshine  and  the  wind- 
less frost  came  flocking  back,  and  went  to  sleep. 
Other  thoughts,  a  little  more  laggard  of  wing, 
had  to  obey,  too;  he  had  to  forget  the  book  he 
had  been  reading  during  his  dinner,  the  swift 
hour  of  skating  in  the  afternoon,  the  serious  doubt 
whether  he  had  the  right  to  treat  as  his  own  the 
fortune  that  his  father  had  left  him.  Then  other 
thoughts,  more  laggard  yet,  had  to  go  to  roost 
(and  if  possible  die  as  they  were  roosting) — his 
physical  disgust  for  a  man  who  had  by  sheer 
weakness  and  self-indulgence  allowed  himself  to 
get  into  the  state  that  his  patient  was  in;  that 
slack  lip,  that  sallow  face,  the  thinning  and  whit- 
ening hair,  they  were  all  the  footprints  of  error 
that  had  been  made  a  welcome  and  desired  guest. 
He  would  scarcely  have  known  the  man  again. 
But  all  this  had  to  sleep — he  had  to  regard  him 
only  in  the  light  of  Love,  in  the  spirit  of  Him 
who  healed  the  leper's  sores.  Slowly  and  with 
effort  that  was  done,  but  there  was  still  one 
winged  thought  abroad,  harder  to  recall  than  any 
— Maud.  She,  too,  had  to  be  called  home  (and  the 
irony  of  the  phrase  struck  him),  her  beauty,  her 


254      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

incomparable  charm,  must  now  be  all  non-existent 
for  him.  Whatever  power  he  had  must  not  be 
spent  elsewhere.  She  must  cease — all  thought  of 
her  must  cease. 

Then,  like  the  driving-wheel  of  some  engine 
just  beginning  to  haul  its  ponderous  weight  out 
of  the  depot,  the  power  of  the  Divine  Mind  began 
to  move  within  him.  Once  and  again  the  wheel 
spun  round,  not  biting  the  rail,  for  the  load  was 
very  heavy,  but  soon  the  driving  power  began  to 
move  him,  the  engine,  and  its  dead  and  heavy 
weight  of  trucks.  It  was  dark  under  the  roof  of 
the  depot,  but  outside  there  was  sunshine.  The 
only  real  force  in  the  world  could  manage  it,  but 
the  engine  had  to  strive  and  strain,  and  grip  the 
rails.  Sometimes  it  seemed  as  if  the  weight  be- 
hind was  immeasurable,  sometimes  it  seemed  as 
if  the  force  that  drove  him  was  so  vast  that  he 
must  be  broken  with  it.  But  he  knew,  that  little 
atom  of  agonized  yet  rapturous  consciousness, 
which  was  all  that  he  could  refer  to  as  himself, 
knew  that  it,  and  its  freight,  were  in  control  of 
the  one  thing  that  cannot  possibly  make  a  mis- 
take. For  that  one  thing  is  Love,  in  whose  hands 
alone  the  whole  world  is  safe  and  saved. 

The  fire  had  gone  out  when  he  got  up  from 
his  chair  some  hours  later,  and  the  bitter  frost 
had  frozen  the  glass  of  water  he  had  poured  out. 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      255 

But  he  broke  the  crust  of  ice  on  it  and  drank. 
And  in  two  minutes  he  was  undressed  and  asleep, 
having  plunged  into  bed  with  a  smile  that  had 
broadened  into  the  sheer  laughter  of  joy. 

Thurso  awoke  next  morning  feeling,  so  he  told 
himself,  the  stimulus  and  exhilaration  of  a  new 
climate,  and  the  bracing  effect  of  a  dry,  sunny, 
frosty  morning.  After  the  narrow  berth  of  his 
cabin,  it  had  been  a  luxury  to  sleep  in  a  proper 
bed  again,  and  it  was  a  luxury  also  to  lie  at  ease 
in  it  now.  How  well  he  had  slept,  too!  He  had 
slept  from  about  eleven  the  night  before  till  half- 
past  eight;  slept  dreamlessly,  without  those  in- 
cessant wakings  from  agonized  dreams  of  desire 
which  had  so  obsessed  him  during  this  last  week. 
No  doubt  this  change  from  the  sedentary  life  of 
the  ship  to  the  wider  activities  of  the  land  ac- 
counted for  that,  and,  anyhow,  he  felt  the  place 
and  the  air  suited  him.  Yesterday  had  passed 
pleasantly,  too;  he,  Maud  and  Cochran  had  been 
for  a  long  sleigh-drive  in  the  afternoon,  and — 
there  was  no  use  in  denying  it — Cochran  was  a 
very  attractive  fellow.  He  had  the  tact,  the  ex- 
perience, the  manner  of  a  man,  and  yet  all  these 
were  somehow  steeped  in  the  exquisite  efferves- 
cence and  glow  of  youth.  Never  had  Thurso  seen 
the  two  so  wonderfully  combined — "  youth's  en- 


chantment  "  was  his  still,  the  eager  vitality  of  a 
boy. 

When  they  returned,  he  had  had  an  hour's  talk 
with  him  alone,  and,  at  Cochran's  request,  he 
had  told  him  the  whole  history  of  his  slavery. 
And,  somehow,  that  recital  had  been  in  no  way 
difficult.  He  felt  as  if  he  was  telling  it  all  to  one 
who  understood  him  better  than  ue  understood 
himself;  one  who  did  not  in  the  least  condone  or 
seek  to  find  excuses  for  the  miserable  tale,  but 
one  to  whom  these  hideous  happenings  appeared 
only  in  the  light  of  a  nightmare,  as  if  Thurso 
had  had  a  horrible  dream  and  was  just  telling 
him  a  dream  only. 

And  at  the  end  Cochran  had  still  been  genial. 

11  Well,  now,  that  is  a  good  start,"  he  said, 
"  for  I  guess  you  haven't  kept  anything  back. 
Sometimes  people  have  a  sort  of  false  shame,  and 
won't  tell  one  what  perhaps  is  the  very  worst  of 
all.  Well,  how  can  one  take  it  to  Infinite  Love 
to  destroy  and  abolish  if  one  doesn't  know  what 
it  is?  " 

Thurso  was  possessed  of  great  courtesy  of  man- 
ner. 

"  Quite  so,  that  is  only  reasonable,"  he  said. 
But  to  himself  he  thought  how  odd  it  was  that  so 
straightforward  and  simple  a  fellow  should  have 
such  a  crank.  Not  that  he  was  not  perfectly 
willing  to  let  the  crank  do  what  he  could  for  him 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     257 

• — he  would  have  worn  any  amulet  or  charm  if 
anyone  seriously  thought  it  could  help  him. 

"  Well,  now,  before  I  go  back  to  town  for  the 
night,"  continued  Cochran,  "  I  want  to  start 
right  away  with  you  on  this.  Remember,  first  of 
all,  that  all  that  you  have  been  suffering  from  is 
unreal.  It  has  no  true  existence.  Try  to  get  that 
into  your  mind — the  more  you  can  make  yourself 
think  that,  the  quicker  your  cure  will  be.  A 
patient  can  help  his  human  doctor  by  determin- 
ing to  get  well,  can't  he?  Well,  you  can  help  me 
by  trying  to  realize  that  you  never  have  been 
really  ill.  There  isn't  such  a  thing  as  real  ill- 
ness." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  not  only  are  the  effects 
of  the  drug  unreal,  but  the  cravings  for  it  are 
unreal?  One  can  only  judge  by  one's  feelings; 
one's  feelings  are  the  ultimate  appeal,  and  I  as- 
sure you  I  know  of  nothing  nearly  so  real  as  that. 
If  it  wasn't  real  I  shouldn't  have  come  to 
America. ' ' 

"  Ah,  that's  where  you  make  a  mistake,"  said 
Cochran.  ' '  Supposing  we  all  entered  into  a  con- 
spiracy to  play  a  practical  joke  on  you — got  you 
committed  for  murder  and  got  you  condemned  to 
death,  so  that  you  really  believed  it.  You  would 
be  terrified,  and  your  terror  would  be  the  realest 
thing  in  the  world  to  you,  you  would  say.  But  it 
would  be  all  founded  on  a  lie.  And  your  craving 


258      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

is  founded  on  a  lie.  Such  a  stupid,  transparent 
lie,  too !  As  if  evil  has  any  power  compared  with 
good. ' ' 

Thurso  thought  this  illustration  rather  well 
chosen,  but  he  was  a  little  over-done  and  a  little 
impatient.  Also  the  mention  of  his  craving  had 
stirred  it  into  activity  again.  He  began  to  won- 
der if  there  was  any  drug-shop  near.  .  .  . 
And  that  thought  made  him  the  more  impatient. 

4 '  Excuse  me, ' '  he  said,  i '  but  I  am  not  a  Chris- 
tian Scientist,  and  the  method  doesn't  really  in- 
terest me,  since  I  do  not  believe  in  it. ' ' 

Cochran  laughed,  boyishly,  with  great  good- 
humor. 

"  Oh,  we'll  soon  alter  that,"  he  said,  "  and  I 
am  telling  you  the  treatment,  just  as  an  ordinary 
doctor  tells  his  patient  the  treatment." 

"  I  suppose  I  am  pretty  bad,"  said  he. 

"  I  should  just  think  you  were.  Why,  you  are 
all  wrapped  up  in  error.  Have  you  ever  unwound 
a  golf -ball!  There's  yards  and  yards  of  india- 
rubber,  you  think  it's  going  on  forever.  But  at 
the  centre  there  is  a  core.  And  there's  a  core  in 
you,  too.  But  we've  got  to  unwind  the  error 
first." 

Thurso  got  up,  he  was  feeling  every  moment 
more  fidgety  and  impatient.  He  was  beginning 
to  want  the  drug  most  terribly,  his  craving  was 
growing  with  unusual  rapidity;  yet  while  Coch- 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      259 

ran  was  here  he  felt  that  his  will  to  get  well,  his 
desire  to  free  himself,  was  keen  also.  And  that 
gave  him  an  impulse  of  honesty. 

"  I  tell  you  this,  too,"  he  said:  ''I'm  wanting 
the  drug  most  awfully  now.  Ah,  help  me,"  he 
added  with  a  sudden  wail  of  appeal,  ' '  for  I  know 
what  I  shall  do  when  you  are  gone." 

"  Yes,  tell  me  that,"  said  Cochran. 

"  Well,  I  shall  go  and  see  where  Maud  is,  and 
if  she  is  downstairs  I  shall  tell  her  that  I  anx 
going  to  sleep  till  dinner-time,  so  that  I  can  get 
away  by  myself.  She  trusts  me,  I  think,  stilly 
after  all  that  has  happened.  Then  I  shall  go  to 
my  room  and  forge — yes,  forge — a  prescription. 
Then  I  shall  send  to  the  stables,  and  tell  a  man 
and  horse  to  go  down  to  Port  Washington  and 
say  that  it  must  be  made  up  for  Lord  Thurso. 
And  I  shall  sit  gnawing  my  nails  till  he  comes 
back." 

Cochran  nodded  at  him. 

11  Well,  you're  making  an  excellent  start,"  he- 
said,  "  because  you  are  telling  me  all.  But  you 
know  you  are  just  as  wrong  about  what  you  say 
you  will  do  as  you  were  about  the  reality  of  what 
you  have  done.  You  won't  do  anything  of  the- 
kind." 

"  Ah,  surely  this  is  suggestion,  hypnotic  treat- 
ment," said  Thurso. 


260      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

Walter  Cochran  gave  one  little  click  of  im- 
patience; then  that  passed. 

"I'm  almost  getting  fatigued  with  hearing  peo- 
ple say  that,"  he  said.  "  It's  you  who  have  been 
suggesting  things  to  yourself  and  imagining  them 
with  remarkable  vividness.  You've  got  to  re- 
verse all  that;  you've  got  to  say  to  yourself  now, 
'  I  will  do  none  of  those  things.'  I  want  to  get 
your  will  on  the  right  side.  So  now  plan  another 
evening  for  yourself.  Come,  what  would  be 
pleasant?  Don't  make  a  long  evening  of  it;  I 
want  you  to  go  to  bed  before  eleven." 

"  Why?  "  asked  Thurso. 

"  Because  I  shall  be  treating  you  by  then," 
said  he,  "  and  I  find  it's  an  excellent  plan  to  treat 
people  while  their  bodies  are  reposing  or  asleep. 
They  themselves,  of  course,  their  souls,  are  never 
asleep,  and  I  guess  it's  because  the  body  is  lying 
quiet  and  not  suggesting  distractions." 

"  But  Maud  tried  to  treat  me  once  on  the 
steamer,"  said  Thurso,  "  and  the  effect  was  that  I 
couldn't  get  to  sleep  at  all.  I  thought  she  was 
in  the  room." 

Although  he  had  said  just  now  that  the  treat- 
ment did  not  interest  him,  he  was  talking  with 
genuine  interest.  There  was  something  so  attrac- 
tive about  this  big,  strong  young  man,  who  looked 
so  awfully  well  and  sane,  and  seemed  to  diffuse 
sanity  and  health.  Yet,  on  this  one  subject,  how 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE     261 

fantastically  his  mind  framed  itself,  and  withal 
how  simple  and  unfantastic  he  seemed  to  think  it. 

"  Why,  that  was  real  good  of  Lady  Maud, 
wasn't  it!  "he  said.  "  And  that  feeling  of  yours 
that  she  was  in  the  room  was  very  likely  to  hap- 
pen. I'll  tell  you  why — like  everything  else  to  do 
with  science,  it's  so  simple.  The  practitioner 
ought  quite  to  sink  himself;  he  shouldn't  be  con- 
scious of  himself  at  all.  He  mustn't  think  that 
he  is  controlling  the  working  of  the  power  of 
Divine  Love.  But  that  unconsciousness  of  one's 
self  only  comes  with  practice.  At  first,  the  healer 
finds  that  his  personality  obtrudes  itself." 

Quite  unconsciously  Thurso  began  to  be  more 
interested — unconsciously,  too,  and  for  the  first 
time,  the  craving  for  the  drug,  which  had  reached 
an  acute  point,  began  of  its  own  accord  to  grow 
less  keen.  The  very  simplicity  of  the  thing,  if 
only  he  could  believe  it  was  true,  struck  him. 

"  Then  why  can't  you  heal  me  instantly?  "  he 
asked.  "  If  error  cannot  exist  in  the  presence 
of  Divine  Love,  how  is  it  that  time  is  required 
for  its  destruction?  ' 

"  Ah,  you  must  lose  your  belief  in  the  reality 
of  error  before  it  can  become  completely  unreal 
to  you,"  said  he;  "  and  your  belief,  I  expect,  goes 
deep,  doesn't  it?  Get  Lady  Maud  to  read  to  you 
out  of  the  book  she  is  studying.  That  will  really 
be  better  for  you  than  writing  prescriptions,  won't 


262      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

it?  But  now  I  must  go;  though  there's  no  such 
thing  as  time  really,  it  is  still  possible  to  miss  a 
train. ' ' 

"  Though  there  are  no  such  things  as  trains'?  " 
asked  Thurso. 

"  Yes,  but  the  false  claim  of  a  train  is  very 
hard  to  uproot,"  said  Cochran,  laughing.'  "  It's 
better  to  go  in  them,  and  save  your  energy  for 
the  destruction  of  other  and  worse  claims." 

Thurso  lay  back  in  his  big  chair  after  Coch- 
Tan  had  gone,  conscious  that  something  else  than 
laudanum  had  begun  to  interest  him  a  little.  He 
felt  no  tendency  whatever  or  leaning  towards 
Christian  Science,  but  he  wanted  to  find  some 
weak  spot  in  the  theory,  some  fatal  inconsistency, 
which  must  invalidate  it  altogether.  There  must 
"be  one,  even  in  the  little  he  had  already  heard 
about  it.  At  this  moment  Maud  entered. 

"  Maud,  give  me  a  Christian  Science  book," 
he  said;  "I'm  going  to  prove  it's  all  wrong." 

Maud  laughed. 

"  Do,  dear.  It  is  the  duty  of  everybody  to 
expose  error  and  falsehood.  Shall  I  read  it  to 
you!  " 

"  Yes,  do." 

Then  suddenly  his  craving  began  to  return, 
growing  instantaneously  to  a  hideous  acuteness. 
His  mind  was  like  some  light  vehicle,  from  which 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      263 

the  driver  had  been  upset,  galloped  away  with  by 
the  bolting,  furious  horses  of  habit.  Never  be- 
fore had  the  stroke  fallen  upon  him  with  such, 
suddenness.  "  A  fine  first  fruit  of  the  value  of 
Christian  Science,-'  he  said  to  himself.  Yet 
though  the  reaction  made  him  almost  dizzy,  he 
retained  his  presence  of  mind  and  that  cunning 
which  seemed  to  have  been  developed  in  him  since 
he  took  to  the  drug.  He  mastered  his  voice  com- 
pletely, he  mastered  also  that  automatic  swallow- 
ing movement  of  the  throat  that  always  accom- 
panied one  of  his  attacks  of  desire. 

"  Or  shall  we  read  after  dinner?  "  he  said. 
"  That  sleigh-drive  made  me  so  sleepy.  I  think 
I  should  drop  asleep  at  once  if  you  began  to  read. '  * 

Maud  looked  at  him  one  moment  with  infinite 
pity — that  was  instinctive,  she  could  not  help  it. 
Then  she  laughed  again. 

"  Oh,  what  an  old  bungler!  "  she  said.  "  You 
want  to  go  to  your  bedroom,  don't  you,  and  forge 
— yes,  forge — that  prescription  you  forged  with, 
such  brilliant  success  on  the  steamer,  and  send 
it  down  to  the  village  to  get  your  nasty,  beastly" 
drug?  Thurso,  it's  all  very  well  to  forge  once- 
or  twice,  but  you  really  mustn't  make  a  practice^ 
of  it ;  it  grows  on  one  dreadfully,  I  am  told. ' ' 

He  came  towards  her,  white  and  shaking. 

"  That  quack  Cochran  has  been  talking  to  your 
has  he?  "  he  said. 


264      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

"  Oh,  yes.  Why  not?  And  he  isn't  proved  to 
be  a  quack  yet,  you  know." 

He  laid  his  hand  on  her  arm. 

"  Maud,  just  this  once,"  he  said.  "  Do  let  me 
have  it  this  once!  I  have  never  wanted  it  so  be- 
fore. ' ' 

She  took  his  hand. 

"  Thurso,  I  promise  you  I  will  go  and  get  it 
for  you  myself  at  twelve  o'clock  to-night,  if  you 
still  crave  for  it,"  she  said.  "  Hold  on  for  six 
hours — not  so  much,  five  hours — and  then  you 
shall  have  a  real  good  go  at  it.  Only  in  the  in- 
terval you  must  do  your  best — your  best,  mind — 
not  to  think  about  it.  And  you  must  go  to  bed 
at  eleven.  That's  not  much  to  ask,  is  it?  ' 

His  eye  brightened. 

"  Why,  of  course,  I  can  wait,"  he  said,  "  if 
you  really  promise  me  that.  And — you  won't 
tell  Cochran?  " 

"  Oh,  no,  you  probably  will.  Now,  if  you  aren't 
really  sleepy — and  you  don't  look  it — I'll  read 
to  you.  It  will  help  to  pass  the  time  till  twelve." 

It  had  required  all  Maud's  faith  to  get  through 
with  this,  but  she  had  understood  and  agreed 
with  what  Mr.  Cochran  had  said  before  he  left. 
He  wanted  Thurso  to  make  an  effort  himself,  and 
believed  that  at  present  he  could  hardly  do  so, 
unless  he  was  bribed  to.  He  had  suggested  this 
plan,  in  fact. 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      265 

"  But  if  he  wants  it  at  twelve?  "  she  had  asked. 
"  Oh,  but  he  won't,"  he  had  answered.    "  He 
can't." 

All  this  Thurso  thought  over  as  he  lay  in 
bed  next  morning,  watching  his  valet  put  out  his 
things.  He  had  gone  to  bed,  as  he  promised,  at 
half-past  ten,  hugging  himself  with  the  thought 
that  midnight  was  coming  closer  every  minute. 
And  then — he  had  simply  fallen  asleep,  and  when 
he  woke  the  pale  winter  sunshine  was  flooding  the 
room. 

Yet  mixed  with  the  exhilaration  of  this  cold, 
bracing  air,  the  memory  of  the  pleasant  day  yes- 
terday, the  sense  of  recuperation  after  his  ex- 
cellent night,  there  came  the  feeling,  as  he  got 
up  and  dressed,  turning  it  all  over  in  his  mind, 
that  he  had  been  tricked.  He  had  no  idea  how 
the  trick  was  done,  or  how  it  was  that  he  could 
have  gone  to  sleep  when,  if  he  had  but  kept  awake 
so  short  a  time,  he  would  have  enjoyed,  and  that 
with  no  sense  of  concealment  or  surreptitious 
dealing,  the  one  sensation  that  turned  life  into 
•paradise.  Certainly  it  had  been  extremely  neatly 
done;  Cochran  was  a  finished  conjurer,  for,  as 
he  had  said,  Thurso  had  had  no  sense  of  his  pres- 
ence or  his  influence.  But  the  sense  of  having 
been  tricked  somehow  piqued  him. 


266     THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

While  he  was  dressing  he  heard  already  the 
sound  of  sleigh-bells,  and  guessed  that  Cochran 
had  come,  and  when  he  got  downstairs  he  found 
him  and  Maud  at  breakfast. 

Cochran  nodded  at  him. 

' l  Good  -  morning,  Lord  Thurso, ' '  he  said. 
"  Now,  Lady  Maud  here  will  tell  you  that  neither 
she  nor  I  have  spoken  a  word  about  you  this 
morning.  I  know  nothing  of  what  happened  here 
since  I  left  last  night.  I  told  her,  just  before  I 
left,  to  fetch  your  drink  for  you,  if  you  wanted 
it,  at  twelve  o'clock.  Now  you've  come  down,  I 
should  like  to  hear  from  you  both  what  has  hap- 
pened. ' ' 

11  I  went  to  Thurso 's  room  at  twelve,"  she 
said,  "  and  knocked.  There  was  no  answer,  so 
I  went  in.  He  was  fast  asleep.  I  tried  to  rouse 
him,  as  you  told  me  to,  I  called  him  and  touched 
him.  But  he  didn't  awake." 

1 '  And  you,  Lord  Thurso  ?  ' '  asked  Cochran. 

"  Oh,  this  is  childish,"  he  said.  "  Maud,  do 
you  swear  that  that  is  true?  ' 

"  Certainly." 

11  Well,  you  or  Mr.  Cochran  must  have  hyp- 
notized me  or  drugged  me,"  he  said. 

"  I  know  less  about  hypnotism,"  remarked 
Cochran,  "  than  I  do  of  the  inhabitants  of  Mars. 
What  do  you  think  we  drugged  you  with?  ' 

"  Well,  how  did  you  do  it,  then?  "  he  asked. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     267 

11  I  didn't  do  it.  I  had  no  idea  whether  you 
were  asleep  or  awake  at  midnight.  I  only  knew 
that  Divine  Love  was  looking  after  you." 

Something  rather  like  a  sneer  came  into 
Thurso's  voice. 

"  And  how  did  you  know  that?  "  he  asked. 

"  How  could  it  have  been  otherwise?  He  has 
promised  to  do  anything  for  us  which  we  ask 
in  faith.  You've  never  seen  such  a  beautiful 
morning  as  it  is.  Cold,  though." 

Thurso  was  undeniably  in  a  very  bad  humor 
by  this  time.  He  felt  sure  there  had  been  some 
suggestive  or  hypnotic  force  used  on  him  the  night 
before,  but  when  a  man  denies  it,  and  simply  at- 
tributes all  that  has  happened  to  the  working  of 
Divine  Love,  you  cannot  contradict  him.  Maud, 
however,  had  read  to  him  last  night  out  of  some 
Christian  Science  book,  and  he  had  flattered  him- 
self he  had  found  a  hundred  inconsistencies  in  it. 
Cochran's  last  words,  too,  were  utterly  incon- 
sistent, simple  as  they  sounded. 

' '  How  can  you  say  it  is  cold, ' '  he  asked,  *  *  when 
your  whole  gospel  is  rooted  on  the  unreality  of 
such  things,  cold  and  heat  and  pain  and  so  on? 
Or  did  I  misunderstand  what  we  read  last  night? 
I  certainly  gathered  that  neither  cold  nor  heat 
had  any  real  existence." 

11  No  more  it  has,"  said  Cochran. 

"  Then  is  it  not — what  was  the  phrase — '  voic- 


268      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

ing  error  '  to  allude  to  the  temperature  of  the 
morning?  ' 

Cochran  laughed,  a  great  big  laugh  of  enjoy- 
ment. 

"  Yes,  but  where's  the  harm  of  voicing  error 
as  long  as  the  error  doesn't  do  any  harm?  Sup- 
posing the  cold  made  me  feel  uncomfortable,  or 
gave  me  a  chill,  then  I  should  deny  its  reality. 
But  it's  a  waste  of  time,  isn't  it,  to  spend  the 
whole  day  in  denying  the  existence  of  chairs  and 
tables  and  heat  and  cold  when  they  don't  hurt 
you?  My  time  is  taken  up  with  denying  things 
that  do  hurt." 

"  Though  nothing  hurts?  " 

' '  False  belief  does,  and  its  consequences  hurt. ' ' 

* '  I  was  merely  inquiring, ' '  said  Thurso,  rather 
acidly.  His  mind  still  dwelt  on  the  trick,  for  so 
he  called  it,  that  had  made  him  go  to  sleep  last 
night. 

"  Now,  Mr.  Cochran  has  promised  to  give  me 
instruction  for  half  an  hour,  Thurso,"  Maud 
said,  "  and  after  that  I  vote  we  go  out.  There's 
a  lake,  he  says,  not  far  off.  We  might  go  and 
skate. ' ' 

"  And  what  is  to  happen  to  me?  "  he  asked. 
11  Am  I  to  have  treatment  or  laudanum?  " 

"Walter  Cochran  looked  up  at  him  suddenly. 

"  Which  would  you  like  best?  "  he  asked. 

Then,  though  the  moment  was,   as  measured 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE      269 

by  time,  an  infinitesimal  one,  his  soul  had  thrown 
itself  at  the  feet  of  Infinite  Love,  reminding  Him 
of  His  promise,  calling  Him  to  help. 

The  acidity  and  sneering  criticism  suddenly 
died  out  of  Thurso's  mind.  His  moods  altered 
quickly  enough;  it  may  have  been  only  that. 

"  You  know  I  want  to  be  cured,"  he  said. 

Cochran  made  a  little  sign  to  Maud,  who  left 
the  room. 

"  Yes,  I  know  you  do,"  he  said,  "  and  you're 
going  to  be.  But  you  can  help  or  hinder.  All 
breakfast-time  you've  been  hindering,  you  know. 
You've  been  asking  those  questions  which  I  like 
answering  and  love  to  be  asked,  not  because  you 
wanted  to  know,  but  because  you  wanted  to  catch 
me  out.  Why,  of  course,  you  can  catch  me  out. 
I  don't  deny  it  for  a  moment,  because  I'm  often 
and  often  bound  by  error  and  the  claims  of  mor- 
tal mind.  But  how  does  it  help  you  to  do  that? 
Now,  what's  the  trouble?  Is  it  just  because  In- 
finite Love  came  to  your  help  last  night  and  sent 
you  to  sleep,  instead  of  letting  you  drink  that 
poison-stuff?  I  guess  it's  that  still.  Well,  to 
doubt  that  it  was  so  is  error  on  your  part.  How 
often  before  when  you've  been  wanting  the  stuff 
badly,  and  knew  that  in  an  hour  or  two  you  would 
get  it,  have  you  dropped  off  to  sleep  instead? 
Why,  never.  And  when  did  this  happen  first? 
Why,  when  I  was  treating  you,  bringing  you  into 


270      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

the  Presence  of  Divine  Love,  not  suggesting 
things  either  to  Him  or  you,  but  just  leaving  you 
there. ' ' 

"  Ah,  but  I  don't  understand,"  said  Thurso. 
"  If  you've  done  that,  is  it  all  over?  Am  I 
cured?  ' 

"  No,  because  you've  made  a  habit  of  error, 
and  you  have  to  make  a  habit  of  giving  error  up 
before  you  are  cured.  You'll  have  to  put  your- 
self in  the  hands  of  Love  often  and  often  before 
you  get  rid  of  this.  At  least  I  expect  that,  but 
one  can't  know  how  He  will  choose  to  heal  you. 
Why,  man,  we  have  to  be  continually  doing  that, 
whether  we've  made  a  habit,  like  you,  of  some 
particular  form  of  error,  or  whether  we  are  but 
just  normal  beings.  And  Divine  Love  is  longing 
to  help  us,  but  we  must  ask." 

"  But  why,  why?  If  God  is  Infinite  Love,  why 
does  He  allow  error  to  bind  us  at  all?  "  asked 
Thurso. 

"  There  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  so,"  answered 
Cochran.  "  Why,  He  has  said  so:  '  Whatsoever 
ye  shall  ask  in  my  name,  believing. '  ' ' 

11  But  you  profess  to  heal  people  who  don't  be- 
lieve," said  he. 

11  I  know.  Why  not?  But  a  man  who  didn't 
believe  couldn't  heal." 

Again  Thurso  had  got  unconsciously  interested. 

"  You  spoke  of  laudanum  as  poison-stuff  just 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     271 

now,"  lie  said.  "  But  if  God  made  everything, 
including  poppies,  how  can  it  be  poisonous?  " 

Cochran  laughed. 

"  Well,  we  had  better  have  Lady  Maud  back," 
he  said.  "  It  was  about  that  very  thing  I  was 
going  to  talk  to  her  to-day.  Now,  if  you  care  to 
listen  to  that,  since  you've  asked  the  question, 
why,  pray  do.  But  if  you  are  not  interested  in 
it,  why,  if  you'll  read  the  morning  paper,  or  any- 
thing else,  just  for  half  an  hour,  we  can  then  all 
start  out  skating  or  whatever  else  you  like." 

"  But  aren't  you  going  to  treat  me?  "  asked 
Thurso. 

"  Oh,  I  was  at  it  this  morning  for  some  time," 
he  said.  "  I've  paid  you  the  morning  visit,  so 
to  speak." 

Then  again  some  spirit  of  antagonism  entered 
into  Thurso,  and  when  Maud  came  back  he  crossed 
over  to  the  fire  with  the  paper.  But  the  news  was 
of  no  importance,  and  by  degrees  he  found  him- 
self attending  less  to  the  printed  page,  and  more 
to  the  voice  that  sounded  so  pleasant  and  cheer- 
ful. Sometimes  he  found  himself  mentally  ridi- 
culing what  was  said,  but  yet  he  listened.  It  was 
arresting  somehow,  and  whether  it  was  only  the 
personality  of  the  speaker  that  arrested  him,  or 
what  he  said,  he  found  himself,  whether  approv- 
ing or  disapproving,  more  and  more  absorbed 
in  it. 


272      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

Cochran  spoke  first,  as  lie  said  he  was  going 
to  do,  about  the  apparently  poisonous  or  sanative 
effects  of  drugs.  These  he  maintained  were  not 
inherent  in  the  drugs  themselves,  but  in  the  be- 
lief of  those  who  used  them.  But  to  use  drugs 
for  curative  reasons  was  merely  to  encourage  the 
false  belief  that  they  could  in  themselves  cure; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  anyone  who  knew  and 
fully  believed  that  they  could  neither  be  health- 
giving  nor  destructive  of  health  might,  if  he  chose, 
eat  deadly  poison  and  be  none  the  worse  for  it. 
But  no  one  who  held  this  belief  would  do  so  merely 
as  a  demonstration,  to  satisfy  the  idle  curiosity 
of  those  who  did  not  believe. 

Then  he  passed  on  to  bigger  things,  and  as  he 
spoke  his  voice  grew  deeper  and  more  full  of  con- 
viction, vibrating  with  earnestness. 

"  But  all  this,"  he  said,  "  though,  of  course,  it 
is  perfectly  true,  is  only  a  detail  that  follows  from 
the  real  and  vital  proposition.  How  error  orig- 
inally came  in,  I  don't  pretend  to  say;  what  we 
have  got  to  deal  with  to-day  is  that  error  is  here, 
and  that  this  error  that  ascribes  to  material  things 
any  real  existence  is  a  very  common  form  of  it. 
But  this  is,  as  I  said,  only  a  secondary  matter; 
what  really  concerns  us  is  not  to  know  what  doea 
not  exist,  but  to  know  what  does.  And  one 
thing  only  exists,  and  that  is  God  in  all  His  mani- 
festations. The  Infinite  Mind,  the  Divine  Love, 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      273 

is  all  that  has  any  real  being.  But  as  light  can 
be  split  up  and  some  of  it  can  appear  in  any  of 
the  hues  of  the  rainbow,  so  that  when  you  say, 
'  This  is  blue,  this  is  red,'  you  are  only  speaking 
of  a  part  of  light,  so  when  you  say,  '  This  is  un- 
selfish, this  is  courageous,  this  is  pure,  this  is 
lovely,'  you  are  only  speaking  of  one  of  the 
hues  of  God.  It  is  good  for  us  to  contemplate 
any  one  of  these,  for  each  of  them  is  lovely,  but 
we  must  continually  be  pressing  them  all  together, 
so  that  they  all  mingle  with  each  other.  And 
when  that  is  done,  when  by  the  power  of  that 
little  bit  of  the  Infinite  Mind  that  is  within  us 
we  bring  together  all  we  know  of  Love  and  purity 
and  unselfishness,  then  it  is  God  whom  we  are 
contemplating.  And  whenever  we  contemplate 
Him  like  that  there  is  no  existence  possible  for 
sin  and  error  or  any  imperfection.  They  all  pass 
into  nothingness,  not  because  we  will  them  to  do 
so,  or  make  any  longer  an  assertion  of  their 
nothingness,  but  because  their  existence  is  in- 
conceivable and  impossible." 

Thurso  had  dropped  his  paper  and  was  listen- 
ing, rebelliously,  it  is  true,  and  antagonistically, 
but  not  without  interest.  Besides,  what  if  it 
were  true?  Then  indeed  his  antagonism  and  re- 
bellion would  be  of  the  nature  of  some  feeble,  soft- 
bodied  moth  fluttering  against  an  express  train, 


274     THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

and  hoping  to  stop  it.  There  was  something  au- 
thoritative, too,  about  the  words.  It  was  not  as 
when  Scribes  or  Pharisees  spoke. 

Somehow,  also  (it  was  impossible  not  to  feel 
this),  there  was  the  same  authority  not  only  about 
Cochran's  words,  but  about  his  life.  The  things 
which  he  said  were  borne  out  by  what  he  did,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  it  was  not  his  temperament  that 
determined  his  words  and  actions,  but  as  if  his 
words  and  actions,  based  on  his  belief,  gave  rise 
to  an  absolutely  happy  temperament.  Big  trou- 
bles, real  anxieties,  never  came  near  him,  but 
what  to  Thurso  was  almost  more  remarkable,  it 
appeared  that  the  innumerable  little  frets  and 
inconveniences  which  are,  he  would  have  said, 
inseparable  from  the  ordinary  life  of  every  day, 
were  unable  to  touch  him.  Bound  him  there 
seemed  to  be  some  atmosphere  as  of  high  moun- 
tain places  in  which  these  bacteria  of  worry  could 
not  live ;  nothing  could  dim  or  speck  those  happy, 
childlike  eyes.  A  child's  faith,  as  Maud  had  rec- 
ognized last  summer,  shone  there,  and  it  was 
backed  up  and  supported  by  the  knowledge  and 
experience  of  a  man.  Like  all  faith,  it  was  in- 
stinctive, and  every  day  of  his  life  proved  the  truth 
of  his  instinct.  And  if  either  Thurso  or  Maud 
could  have  guessed  how  passionate  and  furious 
was  the  struggle  going  on  all  the  tune  within  him, 


between  the  desire  of  his  human  nature  and  the 
absolutely  fixed  knowledge  that  he  had  no  right 
to  use  this  intimacy  into  which  he  was  thrown 
with  Maud,  by  this  call  to  cure  her  brother,  for 
his  own  ends  they  would  have  said  that  a  miracle 
was  going  on  before  their  eyes.  The  waves  of 
desire,  the  longing  for  her,  and,  more  dangerous 
than  either,  this  knowledge  that  he  loved  her  with 
all  the  best  that  was  in  him,  continually  beat  upon 
him,  but  the  abiding-place  of  his  soul  was  abso- 
lutely unmoved  by  the  surrounding  tumult,  and 
not  for  a  moment  was  his  serenity  troubled.  He 
often  talked  to  her  alone,  and  their  talk  would  be 
of  Thurso,  or  of  this  treatment  under  which  he 
was  markedly  getting  better,  or  it  ranged  more 
superficially  over  the  topics  of  every  day. 

It  was  the  third  day  after  he  had  come  to  Long 
Island,  and  he  and  Maud  were  sitting  together 
alone  in  the  hour  before  evening  closed  in.  The 
weather  this  morning  had  suddenly  broken,  and 
instead  of  the  windless,  sunny  frost  a  south- 
easterly gale  had  set  chimneys  smoking,  ice  melt- 
ing, and  drove  torrents  of  cold  rain  against  the 
windows  of  the  shuddering  house.  Maud  at  this 
moment  was  wiping  her  eyes,  which  the  pungency 
of  the  wood-smoke  had  caused  to  overflow. 

"  You  were  quite  right,"  she  said,  "  when  you 
warned  me  not  to  have  the  fire  lit  here.  And 
what  makes  it  more  annoying  is  that  you  don't 


276      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

weep  also.  I  think  we  had  better  move  into  the 
other  room,  if  you  will.  I  can 't  stand  it. ' ' 

The  other  room  was  the  billiard-room,  where 
they  did  not  often  sit.  It  was  free  from  smoke, 
however,  and  the  fire  prospered.  Thurso  had 
gone  upstairs  half  an  hour  ago  to  write  letters, 
and  had  not  come  back  yet. 

"  He  is  so  much  better,"  said  she,  as  she  settled 
herself  into  a  comfortable  chair.  "  His  recovery 
has  been  quite  steady,  too.  Do  you  any  longer 
fear  a  relapse?  ' 

' '  Oh,  I  never  feared  it, ' '  said  he,  * '  in  the  sense 
that  I  ever  thought  it  would  baffle  us.  How  could 
it  ?  I  only  told  you  that  when  error  has  gone  very 
deep  you  sometimes  tap  a  sort  of  fresh  reservoir 
of  it,  even  when  you  seem  to  be  coming  to  the  end 
of  it.  Of  course,  that  may  not  happen,  but  I  have 
seen  sudden  attacks  and  onslaughts  of  a  very 
violent  kind,  even  when  I  thought  that  the  cure 
was  nearly  complete." 

"  Four  days  only!  "  said  Maud.  "It  is  only 
four  days  since  you  really  began  to  treat  him. 
Surely  he  has  made  marvellous  progress." 

"  Oh,  he  has." 

11  You  have  looked  serene  enough,"  said  she. 

11  Why,  I  hope  so.  It's  by  serenity  and  com- 
plete conviction  of  the  Omnipotence  of  All-Power 
that  you  fight  error.  If  you  abandon  that,  what 
are  you  to  fight  them  with?  " 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     277 

He  looked  at  her,  and  for  the  moment  he  felt 
that  his  love  must  betray  itself,  by  word  or  ges- 
ture, in  spite  of  himself.  And  surely  there  was 
some  answering  struggle  going  on  in  her.  Was 
it  only  sympathy,  only  gratitude  for  what  he  had 
done,  that  shone  in  her  eyes?  But  whatever  it 
was,  she  had  it  in  control  also. 

"  Won't  you  tell  me  some  of  them?  "  she  said. 
"  I  don't  think  it  is  voicing  error  to  tell  the 
trouble  to  some  one  who  believes.  Perhaps  I  could 
help  you  to  get  rid  of  them. ' ' 

He  looked  away. 

"  Ah,  the  one  that  has  been  worst  to-day  is  an 
absolutely  private  affair,"  he  said,  "  which  I 
can't  tell  you  yet  anyhow.  Then  there  is  another 
— I  have  been  letting  myself  be  anxious  about 
your  brother.  When  I  treated  him  this  morning 
all  sorts  of  doubts  kept  coming  in.  Half  the  time 
I  was  fighting  them,  instead  of  giving  myself 
wholly  to  him." 

"  But  you  never  really  doubted?  "  said  she. 
"  You  never  let  them  get  hold  of  you?  ' 

* '  No,  but  I  was  feeble.  I  was  a  muddy,  choked 
channel  for  Divine  Love  to  pass  through.  And 
I  am  now.  I  have  to  be  continually  dusting  and 
cleaning  myself.  I  have  been  having  fears." 

"  Specific  ones?  " 

"  Yes,  of  a  violent  accession  of  error,  and  for 
no  reason,  either.  Because,  if  it  did  occur,  I 


278      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

should  know  quite  well  what  to  do.  There  couldn  't 
be  anything  to  fear.  I  guess  he's  been  getting 
well  so  quickly  and  smoothly  that  I  began  to 
wonder  whether  it  could  be  true,  though  I  knew 
it  was." 

Maud  got  up. 

"  What  would  you  do  if  he  had  a  relapse?  " 
she  asked. 

'  *  I  couldn 't  say  now.  But  if  it  came  it  would 
surely  be  made  quite  clear  to  me  how  to  demon- 
strate over  it.  One  is  never  left  in  the  lurch  like 
that.  It's  only  the  Devil  who  plays  his  disciples 
false  and  gives  them  fits  of  remorse  when  they 
want  to  amuse  themselves." 

Walter  Cochran  drew  his  chair  close  to  the  fire 
with  a  little  shudder  of  goose-flesh. 

"  I  was  awfully  frightened  by  a  storm  once 
when  I  was  a  little  chap,"  he  said,  "  and  it's  left 
a  sort  of  scar  on  my  mind.  I  always  have  to 
demonstrate  over  a  gale  like  this;  I  don't  seem 
to  be  able  to  get  used  to  them.  Isn't  that  a  con- 
fession of  feebleness?  But  I  don't  think  you 
would  have  guessed  if  I  hadn't  told  you." 

Maud  looked  at  him  with  the  divining  instinct 
of  her  love. 

"  I  dare  say  I  shouldn't,"  she  said.  "  But  I 
am  so  sorry.  It  seems  hard  that  you,  who  are 
continually  giving  your  strength  to  others,  should 
suffer  for  your  generosity. ' ' 


THE  HOUSE. OF  DEFENCE  279 

"  Oh,  it's  not  quite  that,"  he  said.  "  Whether 
I  was  treating  Thurso  or  not,  I  should  always 
have  to  tell  myself  that  the  gale  and  this  uproar 
and  air  and  sky  are  quite  powerless  to  hurt  me. 
There,  listen  to  that!  " 

An  appalling  blast  swept  by  the  house,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  some  door  or  window  must  have  been 
opened,  for  the  thick  double  curtain  that  com- 
municated with  the  hall  was  lifted  and  a  buffet 
of  cold  air  came  into  the  room  where  they  sat, 
making  the  candles  flicker.  Cochran  jumped  up. 

"  Something  must  be  open,"  he  said.  "  The 
wind  has  got  right  into  the  house."  The  front 
door  stood  ajar.  Thurso 's  greatcoat  was  gone 
from  the  hall. 

Thurso  had  crept  forth  noiselessly  into  the 
storm,  pausing  only  to  snatch  up  his  greatcoat 
and  a  cap  that  chanced  to  be  in  the  hall.  It  was 
the  sight  of  the  door  that  had  given  him  the  in- 
spiration ;  the  possibilities  that  lay  beyond  it  had 
roused  in  a  flash  the  erratic  craving  so  nearly 
subdued  of  late. 

Once  outside  he  shook  himself  as  does  a  dog 
coming  out  of  water.  There  was  a  relief  in  being 
free  from  all  surveillance,  a  joy  in  eluding  every- 
one and  in  being  for  the  moment  at  least  his  own 
master — or  his  drug's  unhampered  slave.  Bow- 
ing his  head  against  the  rain  and  sleet,  he  made 
for  the  village.  Before  he  had  walked  a  quarter 


280      THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

mile  his  thin  evening  shoes  were  soaked  through, 
and  he  was  chilled  to  the  bone.  But  he  gave  little 
heed  to  such  trifles.  Ahead  of  him  lay  the  ram- 
bling Long  Island  village  and  midway  down  its 
main  street  he  recollected  seeing  the  red  and 
green  lights  of  a  pharmacy. 

It  was  a  matter  of  five  minutes  to  find  the  place, 
and  of  another  ten  minutes  to  convince  himself 
that  not  only  was  it  closed  for  the  night,  but  that 
no  one  slept  on  the  premises. 

The  rumble  of  a  train  drawing  into  the  near-by 
station  gave  him  a  new  idea.  It  was  but  an  hour's 
ride  to  New  York.  This  must  be  the  9.30  up-train. 
A  short  run  brought  him  panting  to  the  station 
as  the  last  carriage  rolled  out.  Swinging  himself 
aboard  the  rear  platform,  he  collapsed  in  a  heap  in 
the  ' '  smoker. ' ' 

To  a  passing  guard  he  handed  a  five-dollar  bill, 
not  noting  the  amount  of  change  received.  As 
he  was  about  to  restore  his  pocketbook  to  the  side 
pocket  of  his  greatcoat,  a  paper  fluttered  from  it 
to  the  floor.  Thurso  pounced  on  it  and  restored  it 
carefully  to  the  wallet.  For  it  was  his  prescrip- 
tion, the  carefully-copied  "  open  sesame  "  that 
would  at  once  procure  him  the  drug  he  craved. 

There  had  been  little  silver  in  the  change  given 
him  by  the  guard.  Barely  thirty-five  cents.  This 
he  dropped  carelessly  into  the  greatcoat's  cash 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      281 

pocket  and  leaned  back,  peering  idly  out  into  the 
misty  blackness  of  the  night. 

In  due  time  the  train  reached 'its  terminus — the 
Long  Island  Station  at  Flatbush  Avenue,  Brook- 
lyn. 

From  the  guard  Thurso  learned  that  he  must 
there  take  an  elevated  or  trolley  car,  which  would 
carry  him  across  Brooklyn  Bridge  and  deposit  him 
near  the  City  Hall  of  New  York. 

As  the  Earl  left  the  train  a  very  sleepy,  very 
drunk  man  who  had  sat  across  the  aisle  from  him, 
rose  to  his  feet,  lurched  forward  and  collided  so 
violently  with  Thurso  as  almost  to  knock  both  of 
them  off  their  legs.  The  drunkard  apologized, 
mumbled  profound  regrets  and  reeled  off  in  an 
opposite  direction  until  the  angle  of  a  wall  hid 
him  from  his  late  victim.  Then  he  grew  sober 
with  marvelous  rapidity,  jumped  aboard  a  pass- 
ing trolley  car  and  was  whirled  out  of  sight— 
Thurso 's  pocketbook  nestling  lovingly  in  his 
pocket. 

Arrived  at  the  New  York  terminus  of  Brooklyn 
Bridge,  Thurso  saw  at  once  to  his  left,  on  the 
ground  floor  of  a  stately  gold-domed  building,  the 
bright  windows  of  an  "  all-night  "  pharmacy. 

He  entered  and  eagerly  accosted  the  first  clerk 
he  saw. 

"  I  wish  this  prescription  filled,"  he  began,  "  at 
once — at — at ' ' 


282      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

His  voice  trailed  away  into  a  murmur  of  amaze. 
His  hands  were  busy  in  every  pocket  of  his  great- 
coat. Then  the  outer  garment  was  impatiently 
thrown  open  and  his  evening  clothes  subjected  to 
the  same  rigid  search. 

"  I — I  have  mislaid  the  prescription,"  he  mut- 
tered, "  but  if  you  will  give  me  a  pen  and  a 
blank  I " 

He  paused  in  growing  alarm.  For  now  he  re- 
called that  his  missing  pocketbook  held  not  only 
the  prescription  but  all  his  money  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  little  silver.  This  change,  scattered 
through  several  pockets,  he  now  drew  out.  There 
was  less  than  a  half  dollar  in  all.  Eemembering 
the  price  he  had  been  wont  to  pay  in  England  for 
the  drug,  and  noting  the  prosperous  appearance 
of  the  shop,  he  knew,  without  asking,  that  his 
scanty  funds  were  insufficient  for  his  purpose. 

With  a  mumbled  apology  he  left  the  place. 
There  surely  must  be  less  high-class  chemist  shops 
on  less  imposing  thoroughfares,  where,  perhaps, 
his  small  quota  of  silver  might  suffice  for  a  phial 
of  laudanum. 

With  this  idea  he  turned  somewhat  aimlessly 
to  the  right,  and  passing  the  Bridge  Terminal 
walked  hurriedly  up  a  brightly-lighted  but  narrow 
street,  above  whose  center  ran  the  Elevated  road 
tracks.  And,  as  he  progressed,  his  eyes  shifting 
from  right  to  left  for  the  lights  of  a  chemist  shop, 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     283 

he  noted  that  his  dilapidated  evening  attire,  which 
had  passed  unremarked  in  the  vicinity  of  City 
Hall  Square,  began  to  draw  on  him  curious,  even 
derisive  looks  from  other  pedestrians.  These  pe- 
destrians, too,  he  observed,  were  of  far  different 
character  from  those  whom  he  had  seen  near  the 
terminal.  A  drunken  sailor,  a  bevy  of  unshaven 
lads  in  jerseys  and  billycocks,  a  woman  or  two 
in  cheap,  dirty  finery — these  were  the  prevalent 
types.  The  shops,  too,  that  lined  the  road  wore 
a  garish,  unprepossessing  look.  One  he  singled 
out  as  a  chemist's  and  walked  in,  choking  at  the 
odor  of  stale  drugs  and  tobacco. 

1 '  I  wish  some  laudanum, ' '  he  began,  addressing 
a  greasy-looking  man  behind  the  counter. 

"  Where's  your  p'scription?  '  snapped  the 
other,  his  eyes  roving  over  the  richly-dressed,  un- 
kempt figure  of  the  Earl. 

"  I  am  a  doctor,"  lied  Thurso  glibly.  "  Give 
me  a  blank  and 

"  What's  your  name?  " 

"  Heathcliffe— Giles  Heathcliffe." 

"  Where  d'y'  live?  " 

"  I  beg  pardon?  " 

"  Where  do  you  live?  " 

' '  On — on  Twenty-third  Street, ' '  replied  Thurso, 
dimly  recalling  that  thoroughfare  by  name  from 
one  of  the  morning  papers. 

"  What  number?  " 


284      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

Thurso  paused.  He  remembered  hearing  of  the 
great  length  of  certain  New  York  streets  and 
jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  the  residence  dis- 
tricts in  each  would  probably  be  at  some  distance 
from  the  thoroughfare's  beginning. 

11  Four — seventy — six!  "  he  answered. 

"  East  or  West?  " 

"  East.    But  my  man,  I  wish " 

11  My  man,"  however,  had  vanished  behind  a 
screen.  Eeappearing  a  moment  later  with  a  big 
brown  book  between  his  hands,  he  thumbed  the 
volume's  pages,  then  remarked  sententiously : 

"  No  Heathcliffe  in  the  Directory." 

11  I  moved  into  town  only  last  month.  Prob- 
ably  " 

' '  What  number  East  Twenty-third  did  you  say 
you  hung  out  at?  ' 

With  a  wave  of  nervousness  Thurso  found  that 
he  could  not  remember  the  number  he  himself 
had  named. 

I  i  I  told  you  once !  "  he  said  stiffly.    1 1  Why  do 
you " 

II  Ya-as!  "  snarled  the  chemist,  "  an'  you  told 
me  a  lie!    You  said  476,  East.    An'  the  farthest 
number  East  is  444.    See?    Get  out  o'  here!  ' 

"  But — "  began  Thurso,  his  craving  rendering 
him  oblivious  even  to  the  insult. 

' '  Oh,  I  know  your  breed,  you  dirty  dope-fiend ! 
I  sized  you  up  the  minute  you  come  in.  You  're  on 


THE    HO  USE    OF   DEFENCE      285 

a  spree  an'  you  wanter  fake  a  p'scription  an'  get 
the  stuff  from  me,  an'  when  you're  found  croaked 
from  an  overdose  there's  the  bottle  with  my  label 
on  it  in  your  jeans.  An'  me  with  only  a  fake 
p'scription  to  flash  when  the  District  Attorney 
asks  me  questions!  G'tout  o'  here,  I  tell  you, 
'fore  I  send  for  a  cop!  ' 
"  But  I  can  pay  well!  "  intervened  Thurso, 

I  t    T )  ) 

An  evil  light  sprang  into  the  shopkeeper's  little 
eyes.  He  leaned  across  the  counter. 

"  Not  so  loud!  "  he  muttered.  "  Why  didn't 
you  say  so  before?  The  bottle  needn't  have  no 
label.  Now  for  a  tenner — 

Now,  in  English*  slang,  a  "  tanner  "  is  a  six- 
pence. The  shopman's  drawling  pronunciation  of 
the  Yankee  abbreviation  for  $10  struck  familiarly 
on  Thurso 's  ears,  even  as  the  latter,  at  sudden 
memory  of  his  lost  notes,  was  repenting  his  hasty 
offer  of  a  bribe.  But  if  it  were  but  a  question  of 
a  "  tanner " 

In  glad  relief  he  tossed  a  twenty-five  cent  piece 
across  the  counter. 

11  Keep  the  change!  "  he  said  loftily,  "  and 
please  be  quick  with  the  laudanum." 

Really,  he  had  been  clever  to  seek  this  very 
cheap  street.  He  chuckled  at  his  own  perspicacity. 
But  the  grin  died  on  his  lips  as  he  met  the  chem- 
ist's glance. 


286      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

"  Wot's  this  for?  "  roared  the  latter,  belliger- 
ently. 

"  It's  your  '  tanner,'  and " 

* '  I  said  a  '  tenner, '  you  four  flush !  Get  out  of 
here,  I  tell  you,  or " 

This  time  Thurso  obeyed.  He  wondered  dully 
why  he  felt  no  desire  to  thrash  the  insolent  little 
cur.  But  his  one  desire  crowded  out  all  lesser 
emotions.  He  wandered  on,  passing  under  an  Ele- 
vated station  and  searching  for  another  shop  with 
red  and  green  lights. 

He  accosted  a  youth  with  an  undershot  jaw  and 
banged  hair. 

' '  Can  you  direct  me  to  a  chemist 's  ?  "he  asked. 

11  A  which?  " 

"  A  chemist's." 

"  Dey  don't  teach  chemistry  on  de  Bowery. 
Youse  must  'a'  fell  outer  your  club  into  de  river. 
You  don't  belong  on  dis  street  no  more'n  a  pair 
o '  yeller  shoes  at  a  dance. ' ' 

"  But  I " 

"  Aw,  fade  away!  " 

A  group  of  idlers  had  gathered,  drawn  by  the 
unwonted  spectacle  of  the  wet,  bewildered  man  in 
evening  clothes  in  such  a  locality.  At  the  under- 
shot youth's  brilliant  repartee  they  laughed 
loudly.  This  was  too  much  for  Thurso.  It  pene- 
trated his  concentration  of  mind  and  woke  in  him 
a  sort  of  blind  fury. 


THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      287 

The  youth  went  rolling  into  the  muddy  gutter 
from  a  well-planted  blow  on  the  jaw.  But  before 
Thurso  could  bring  his  clinched  left  fist  back  to 
his  side  a  half  dozen  toughs — friends  and  fellow 
loafers  of  the  undershot  lad — were  upon  him. 
Luckily  he  was  near  enough  to  a  wall  to  find  a 
"  back  "  for  himself  as  they  reached  him. 

But  even  this  temporary  advantage  availed  lit- 
tle. For  these  were  not  the  sort  of  men  to  fight 
fairly.  Not  an  underhand  or  murderous  ruse  of 
street  conflict  but  they  knew  by  rote.  Moreover, 
at  the  fall  of  one  of  their  number,  the  world-old 
rage  of  proletariat  against  patrician  flared  up. 

They  pressed  closely  on  their  strange  foe,  wait- 
ing the  signal  for  the  concerted  rush  that  should 
wipe  out  their  comrade's  grievance  and  cause  one 
more  of  many  mysterious  "  assault  cases  "  for 
Gouverneur  Hospital.  A  rush,  a  drawing  back, 
and  a  quick  scamper  to  lane  and  byway,  leaving 
a  huddled,  inert  heap  on  the  pavement  to  await 
the  ambulance 's  arrival.  It  would  be  but  the  mat- 
ter of  a  moment.  But  the  rush  was  never  made. 

A  girl,  tall,  slender,  quietly  dressed,  slipped 
through  the  tense  half  circle  and,  taking  her  place 
at  Thurso 's  side,  faced  the  toughs. 

"Gee!  It's  Miss  Alstyne  from  th'  Settle- 
ment !  "  grumbled  the  ringleader.  "  She's  always 
buttin'  in." 


288      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

But  the  rush  paused,  while  the  girl  was  speaking 
in  a  calm,  well-modulated  voice. 

"  Patrick  Heeney,  '  Red'  Grier,  '  Spike  '  Jen- 
nings, Frank  Fogarty,"  she  enumerated,  glancing 
from  face  to  face,  "  yes,  I  think  I  know  most  of 
you  by  name.  This  won't  be  one  more  of  your 
'  mysterious  attack  '  cases.  For  I'll  see  that  every 
one  of  your  names  goes  at  once  to  Captain  Hodg- 
ins  if  you  lay  a  finger  on  this  gentleman.  Now, 
go!" 

One  by  one — and  with  audible  comments  that 
sent  the  blood  hotly  to  the  girl's  pallid  face — the 
toughs  slouched  away,  until,  except  for  the  more 
distant  knots  of  non-combatant  spectators,  the  fair 
rescuer  and  Thurso  stood  alone. 

She  turned  then  and  spoke  to  him  for.  the  first 
time. 

"  I  happened  to  be  passing,"  she  said,  then 
stopped.  For  Thurso  was  leaning  in  a  state  of 
semi-unconsciousness  against  the  wall;  swaying 
awkwardly  forward  and  back,  his  head  hanging 
limp  on  his  chest.  The  excitement,  danger  and 
quick  action,  following  on  his  chilled  and  over- 
wrought state,  had  induced  the  reaction  of  utter 
collapse  so  common  in  drug  cases. 

"  Are  you  hurt?  "  she  asked  in  quick  sympathy. 

1  i  No.  I  think  not, ' '  he  replied  dazedly,  seeking 
to  pull  himself  together,  "  I — I 

"  Don't  try  to  talk.    Are  you  strong  enough  to 


THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE     289 

come  to  the  Settlement!  It  is  just  around  the 
corner.  Lean  on  me.  So !  Now  if  you  feel  faint 
again  we'll  stop." 

Slowly,  the  Earl  shuffling  weakly  at  her  side, 
the  Settlement  Worker  proceeded  through  the  rain 
until  they  reached  a  building  whose  door  lamps 
flashed  hospitable  welcome.  Up  the  low,  broad 
steps  the  two  passed  and  along  a  hallway. 

*  *  Come  in  here, ' '  said  the  girl,  guiding  Thurso 
into  a  white-walled  room  whose  walls  were  lined 
with  shelves.  ' '  This  is  our  dispensary.  Sit  down 
and  I  '11  bring  the  doctor  to  you  in  a  moment.  He 's 
somewhere  about  the  House. ' ' 

She  flitted  out,  leaving  him.  Slowly  his  senses 
crept  back  toward  normality.  Then  a  sight  met 
his  eye  that  banished  in  a  moment  all  numbness 
of  brain  and  body.  The  walls  were  lined  with 
shelves ;  the  shelves  with  bottles.  Upon  the  table, 
where  she  had  flung  her  gloves,  lay  the  girl's 
purse. 

Thurso  was  on  his  feet,  thrilling  with  excite- 
ment, mad  with  distorted  longings  and  plans.  He 
ran  his  finger  along  the  various  rows  of  phials. 
At  last  with  a  little  gurgle  of  animal  joy  he  found 
the  bottle  he  sought.  In  another  instant  it  was 
loosely  wrapped  in  a  bit  of  newspaper  and  thrust 
into  his  greatcoat  pocket. 

And  now  to  escape.  But  at  memory  of  his  re- 
cent experiences  in  the  streets  of  New  York,  he 


290      THE    HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

shuddered.  No.  He  must  get  back  to  Long  Island. 
There  might  be  a  midnight  or  one  o'clock  train. 
He  could  creep  unseen  into  the  house.  Maud 
would  have  gone  to  bed  and  he  would  have  the 
whole  night  to  himself.  Best  touch  none  of  the 
glorious  drug  till  then;  so  thus  to  get  its  fullest 
charm.  The  joy  of  an  epicure  swept  over  him  in 
anticipation.  It  would  not  do  to  taste  it  until  safe 
at  home.  He  needed  all  his  wits  just  now.  He 
must  not  befog  them. 

Then  came  a  thrill  of  disappointment.  With- 
out money,  how  was  he  to  reach  the  sanctuary  of 
his  own  room?  How  could 

Once  more  his  gaze  rested  on  the  purse.  It  was 
all  so  absurdly  easy. 

' '  I  suppose, ' '  he  thought  with  impersonal  calm, 
11  I  suppose  this  is  about  the  lowest  depths  to 
which  a  white  man  can  fall." 

He  extracted  a  five-dollar  bill  from  the  little 
reticule,  then  started  for  the  door.  On  the  thresh- 
old he  turned  back.  With  a  quick  gesture  he 
ripped  the  two  costly  black  pearl  studs  from  his 
shirt  front,  dropped  them  into  the  purse,  closed  it 
and  noiselessly  slipped  out  of  the  dispensary  and 

so  to  the  street. 

******** 

Cochran  and  Maud  had  spent  the  longest, 
dreariest  evening  either  had  known.  They  had 
speedily  ascertained  that  Thurso  was  indeed  out 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      291 

of  the  house.  Maud  had  suggested  that  they  send 
a  messenger  to  the  village ;  but  this  Cochran  had 
vetoed. 

' '  He  will  come  back, ' '  he  said  quietly.  His  hope 
and  faith  were  still  strong.  Yet,  at  the  very  mo- 
ment of  apparent  victory,  this  setback  for  the  time 
almost  unnerved  him. 

As  for  Maud,  her  struggle  to  fight  back  the  bit- 
ter tears  of  humiliation  precluded  all  speech.  And 
thus,  for  hours,  they  sat  silent,  comfortless,  dis- 
trait. 

Midnight  was  long  passed  when  a  faint  click  at 
the  front  door  brought  Cochran  to  his  feet. 

Maud  rose  with  him,  and  they  went  out  into 
the  hall.  In  the  corner  near  the  door  was  stand- 
ing Thurso,  the  rain  dripping  from  him,  just  tak- 
ing off  his  coat,  with  infinite  precaution,  as  if  not 
to  be  overheard. 

"  Why,  Thurso,"  said  Maud,  "  what  have  you 
been  doing!  Where  have  you  been!  ' 

He  looked  from  one  to  the  other,  and  spoke  in 
a  voice  that  did  not  sound  natural. 

' '  I  have  been  out — on  business, ' '  he  said, ' '  and 
then — and  then " 

Maud  looked  at  Cochran.  All  thought  of  the 
gale,  and  whatever  else  it  was  that  had  been 
troubling  him,  had  passed  from  him.  His  eyes 
were  alight,  his  face  was  vital  and  alert  again. 


"  Yes,  and  what  else!  "  he  said.  "  There's  a 
packet  in  your  coat ;  I  can  see  it. ' ' 

Maud  made  one  exclamation  of  dismay. 

"  Oh,  Thurso!  "  she  exclaimed. 

Thurso's  hand  tightened  on  it. 

"  Yes,  I  can't  help  it,"  he  said.  "  Besides,  I 
am  much  better,  am  I  not?  I  must  break  myself 
of  it  by  degrees." 

Then  he  turned  to  Cochran. 

"  Ah,  do  let  me  have  it  just  this  once!  "  he 
cried.  "  I've  been  without  it  a  week.  I  swear 
to  you  it  shall  be  a  fortnight  before  I  take  it  again. 
Don't  send  me  to  sleep  this  time." 

"  Let's  have  a  look  at  the  bottle." 

A  cunning  look  came  into  Thurso's  face. 

"  Oh,  I  think  not,"  he  said.  "  You  might  for- 
get to  give  it  me  back.  Look  here,  I'm  going  to 
take  it.  I'm — I'm  awfully  grateful  to  you  for  all 
you've  done,  but  this  once  you  shan't  stop  me." 

"  I  never  stopped  you  before,"  said  Cochran. 
"And " 

He  shut  his  eyes  for  a  moment,  and  when  he 
opened  them  again  they  were  full  of  serene  con- 
fidence. 

11  And  I'm  not  going  to  stop  you  now,"  he  said. 
"  But  you  opium-eaters  are  so  stingy  with  your 
stuff.  You  never  treat  another  fellow.  And  I 
want  some  of  that.  Let 's  have  a  jolly  good  drink 
together.  Haven't  you  got  enough  for  us  both?  " 


THE    HOUSE   OF    DEFENCE      293 

Thurso  gave  a  little  cackle  of  delight.  His  eyes, 
too,  like  Cochran's,  were  very  bright,  but  they 
were  bright  with  thirst.  His  mouth,  too,  so 
watered  that  he  could  hardly  swallow  quick 
enough  to  keep  the  saliva  down. 

"  Why,  of  course,"  he  said.  "  I  don't  know 
what  you  mean  by  it,  but  I  '11  do  anything  if  you  '11 
let  me  take  it  and  not  stop  me. ' ' 

"  Thanks  ever  so  much,"  said  Cochran.  "  I've 
often  wanted  the  opportunity  to  take  it.  Why, 
I've  got  quite  a  craving  already." 

Maud  was  looking  from  one  to  the  other,  ut- 
terly puzzled. 

11  Mr.  Cochran,  what  are  you  going  to  do?  " 
she  said.  "  Are  you  mad?  ' 

He  smiled  at  her. 

' '  I  am  only  going  to  do  just  that  which  Infinite 
Power  has  bidden  me,"  he  said.  "  You  mustn't 
be  afraid,  nor  must  you  doubt  it. ' ' 


CHAPTER   X 

THEY  passed  all  three  of  them  into  the  billiard- 
room  again.  Outside  the  wild  hurly-burly  of  the 
storm  still  screamed  and  yelled  round  them,  but 
Cochran  now  was  utterly  unconscious  of  it.  The 
clear  command  had  come  to  his  soul;  he  knew 
that  what  he  was  going  to  do  was  right,  and  he 
had  no  fear  whatever  of  the  consequences.  Con- 
sequences? The  only  consequences  that  there 
could  be,  and  that  there  must  be,  were  a  demon- 
stration convincing  and  conclusive  as  to  the  truth 
of  all  he  taught  and  believed.  As  he  had  said  to 
Maud  a  few  hours  ago,  he  did  not  then  know  what 
he  should  do  if  Thurso  had  a  relapse,  but  he 
knew  now.  He  was  perfectly  certain  he  was  doing 
right. 

He  rang  the  bell  as  soon  as  he  got  in. 

"  We  want  some  glasses,  I  suppose,  don't  we?  ' 
he  said. 

Thurso  looked  at  him  furtively. 

11  But  the  servants  mustn't  know,"  he  said. 

"  Why  not?  I  should  like  everybody  to  know. 
Bring  a  couple  of  glasses,  please,"  he  said  to  the 
man.  "  Is  there  anything  else?  '  he  asked 
Thurso. 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     295 

"  I  take  a  little  hot  water  and  sugar  with  it," 
he  said. 

"  Hot  water  and  sugar,  please,"  said  Cochran. 

Then  a  sudden  distrust  came  into  Thurso 's 
mind. 

"  You  are  not  going  to  cheat  me?  "  he  said. 

Cochran  felt  one  moment  of  vast  pity  for  him. 
Ever  since  they  had  gone  out  and  found  him 
crouching  in  the  corner  of  the  hall  he  had  felt 
that  it  was  a  different  personality  from  the 
Thurso  of  the  last  three  days  whom  they  found 
there.  It  was  as  if  he  was  possessed — he  was 
furtive  and  suspicious,  nothing  remained  of  him 
but  Thirst,  thirst  for  that  drug  that  had  already 
dragged  him  so  near  to  ruin  and  death,  that  ex- 
punged from  his  mind  all  sense  of  honor,  all  the 
moral  code  by  which  men  were  bound,  all  sense 
that  other  people  were  bound  by  it. 

"  No,  I'm  not  going  to  cheat  you,"  he  said.  "  I 
suppose  you  forged  the  prescription  again?  ' 

Thurso  laughed. 

The  man  had  brought  the  glasses,  hot  water 
and  sugar  by  this  time,  and  Thurso  eagerly  un- 
did the  bottle.  What  exactly  was  going  to  hap- 
pen Maud  did  not  know,  but  she  trusted  Cochran, 
and  utterly  she  trusted  the  Power  which  he  felt 
sure  was  bidding  him  do  this. 

Thurso  poured  some  half  of  the  bottle  into  his 
own  glass  and  passed  it  across  to  Cochran. 


296      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

*  *  I  wouldn  't  take  much  if  I  were  you,  * '  he  said, 
pouring  hot  water  into  his  glass,  and  stirring  up 
a  lump  of  sugar  in  it. 

"  Greedy  fellow!  "  said  Cochran.  "  And  is 
that  your  dose  I  Why  it 's  half  the  bottle. ' ' 

Again  Thurso  giggled. 

"  I  know.  It's  a  regular  big  dose  this  time," 
he  said.  "  I  never  took  quite  so  much  before." 

Once  more  a  moment  of  weakness  came  to 
Maud. 

"  Oh,  Thurso,  Thurso!  "  she  said  imploringly. 

But  he  did  not  seem  to  notice  her. 

' '  And  then  I  shall  sit  by  the  fire, ' '  he  went  on, 
'"  and  have  six  hours  of  Paradise.  I  shouldn't 
take  more  than  a  teaspoonful  if  I  were  you,"  he 
said  to  Cochran;  "  that's  what  I  began  with." 

"  Ah,  then  see  here,"  said  Cochran. 

He  poured  the  rest  of  the  bottle  into  his  glass. 
It  was  rather  more  than  Thurso  had  taken.  Then, 
without  troubling  about  hot  water  or-  sugar,  he 
drank  it  off.  Thurso  had  just  raised  his  glass 
to  his  mouth,  but  he- put  it  down. 

"  Why,  it  will  kill  you,  it  will  kill  you!  "  he 
screamed.  "  What  have  you  done?  You  must 
take  an  emetic  at  once.  You  '11  be  dead  in  a  couple 
of  hours.  Maud,  don't  sit  there,"  he  cried. 
4t  Send  for  the  doctor.  Send  for  somebody, 
quick!  ' 

But  Maud  did  not  move.     Cochran  looked  at 


THE   HOUSE   OF.   DEFENCE     297 

her  once,  and  she  smiled  at  him,  and  he  seemed 
satisfied,  as  if  he  had  been  waiting  for  that — just 
her  assurance  of  confidence  that  the  smile  gave. 
Then  he  turned  to  Thurso. 

"  Now,  I  haven't  interfered  with  you,"  he  said, 
"  and  you  are  not  going  to  interfere  with  me. 
What  I  have  drunk  will  not  have  the  smallest 
effect  on  me,  because  I  have  done  it  to  show  you, 
when  I  could  think  of  nothing  else  that  would 
show  you,  how  you  have  been  a  slave  to  that  which 
had  no  real  power  or  effect  of  any  kind.  It  has 
been  your  intention,  your  false  belief,  your  self- 
indulgence  that  has  brought  you  to  this.  And 
now,  at  last,  perhaps  you  will  see  the  unreality  of 
it.  But  you  have  made  it  through  error  so  real 
to  yourself  that  you  have  become  what  you  are 
to-day.  Just  think  for  a  moment  what  you  were 
a  year  ago,  and  think  what  you  are  now." 

Thurso  walked  up  and  down  the  room,  waving 
his  hands,  gesticulating  in  despair  during  this. 
Once  he  had  tried  to  go  to  the  door,  but  Cochran 
had  stepped  in  front  of  it,  and  stood  there. 

' '  Aren  't  you  going  to  drink  that  ?  ' '  said  Coch- 
ran at  length,  pointing  to  the  glass  Thurso  had 
set  down  untasted. 

Thurso  again  did  not  seem  to  hear  him. 

"  Oh,  I  implore  you,"  he  cried.  "  I  implore  you 
to  go  and  take  an  emetic,  and  be  quick  about  it. 
You  have  taken  a  fatal  dose.  You  will  be  dead 


298      THE   HOUSE   OFDEFENCE 

in  a  couple  of  hours.  And  it's  my  fault.  You 
did  it  to  convince  me.  Oh,  if  you'll  only  go,  I 
will  swear  to  you  never  to  touch  it  again.  As  for 


He  took  his  own  glass  and  flung  it  just  as  it 
was  into  the  fire,  where,  with  hissing  and  a  huge 
cloud  of  steam  and  blackening  of  the  wood  logs, 
it  passed  away. 

11  There,  will  that  convince  you?  "  he  cried. 
'  l  And  just  when  I  was  worked  up  for  it,  wanting 
it  as  I  have  never  wanted  it  before.  Oh,  I  im- 
plore you,  go!  If  you  don't,  I  shall  have  killed 
you,  and  you  have  helped  me  so  much,  so  much." 

He  flung  himself  down  on  a  sofa,  in  a  paroxysm 
of  despair,  and  Maud,  though  she  could  not  trust 
herself  to  speak,  else  she  would  have  burst  into 
floods  of  uncontrollable  weeping,  thanked  God 
for  it,  telling  herself  she  was  not  afraid  —  she 
would  not  be  afraid.  For  she  believed  that  Coch- 
ran  had  done  right.  God  would  not  play  him 
false,  while,  as  for  Thurso,  at  last  he  was  broken. 
A  thousand  times  had  he  fallen  and  been  sorry, 
and  vowed  to  amend,  but  he  had  never  been  broken 
like  this.  This  was  the  utter  abandonment,  the 
real  repentance.  If,  as  Cochran  had  said,  there 
was  still  a  reservoir  of  error,  she  could  not  doubt 
but  that  its  banks  were  broken  now  :  it  was  coming 
out  from  him  in  torrents. 

But  then  Cochran  moved  from  the  door,  still 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      299 

smiling,  still  perfectly  serene,  and  sat  down  by 
Thurso,  as  he  half  lay  on  the  sofa,  and  laid  his 
hand  on  his  shoulder. 

"I'm  glad  it  has  taken  you  like  this,  my  dear 
fellow,"  he  said,  "  and  I'm  sorrier  than  I  can 
say  for  all  the  anguish  you  are  now  suffering. 
But  I  saw  no  other  way  of  convincing  you.  I'm 
sorry  for  the  pain  you  feel  now,  because  it  is  quite 
unnecessary.  Your  fears  for  me  are  as  false  as 
was  your  desire  for  that  stuff,  which  I  thought 
tasted  abominable.  But  I'm  infinitely  glad  for 
it  in  another  way,  because  I  think  you  will  see 
now.  All  that  has  been  doing  you  so  much  good 
these  last  four  days  hasn't  yet  been  real  to  you. 
But  I  think  it  will  be  real  now. ' ' 

"  Oh,  it's  not  too  late  yet,"  cried  Thurso. 
' '  But  go  at  once !  ' ' 

"  And  show  you  I  don't  believe  a  word  of  all 
that  I  have  ever  said  to  you  and  Lady  Maud?  ' 
he  answered.  "  You  can't  seriously  invite  me  to 
be  such  a  hypocrite  as  that.  Why,  anyone  of  the 
least  spirit  would  sooner  die,  as  I  fancy  you  still 
think  I  shall,  than  do  that." 

Thurso  laid  an  agonized  hand  on  his  knee. 

"  But  have  you  ever  done  anything  of  the  sort 
before?  "  he  asked.  "  For  Heaven's  sake,  tell 
me  you  have,  and  add  that  it  came  all  right." 

Cochran  laughed. 

"  Well,  no,  I  haven't,"  he  said;  "  and  this  is 


300      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

the  opportunity  I  have  long  wanted.  Now,  when 
is  this  bad-tasting  stuff  supposed  to  take  effect?  " 

Again  Thurso  beat  the  air  with  his  hands. 

' '  Oh,  it 's  my  fault,  it 's  my  fault !  "  he  moaned. 
"  Maud,  can't  you  persuade  him?  ' 

"  No,  dear  Thurso,7'  said  she  rather  huskily. 
"  At  least,  I  shan't  try." 

They  sat  in  silence  after  this  for  a  minute. 
Then  Thurso  got  quickly  up  and  went  out. 
Maud's  eyes  sought  Cochran. 

"Is  it  all  right  to  leave  him?  "  she  asked. 

' '  Oh,  yes.  He  may  have  gone  for  a  doctor ;  he 
may  have  gone,  well,  to  break  down  all  by  him- 
self. But  he  will  not  harm  himself." 

"  You  are  sure?  "  she  asked. 

"  Absolutely.  Why,  Divine  Love  is  pouring  in 
on  all  sides  to  him.  He's  in  safe  hands." 

He  looked  at  her  for  a  long  moment. 

"  He  is  cured,  you  know,"  he  said.  "  And 
there's  no  more  reason  for  me  to  stop  here.  I 
think  I'll  go  back  to  town  to-night." 

Then  Maud's  lip  quivered  and  her  eyes  brimmed 
over. 

11  God  bless  you!  "  she  said. 

She  took  both  his  hands  in  hers  for  a  moment, 
and  then  looked  at  him  again. 

"  You  mustn't  think  of  going  up  to-night  or 
to-morrow,"  she  said.  "  You  say  your  work  is 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     301 

over.  But  can't  you  stay  a  day  or  two  yet  with 
your  friends?  " 

44  Is  it  as  your  friend  that  I  stay  here?  "  he  said 
slowly. 

"  Yes;  mine  and  Thurso's." 

"  Your  friendship  has  meant  much  to  me,"  he 
said  in  an  earnest  tone.  He,  who  had  braved 
death  that  he  might  save  Thurso  from  the  thrall 
of  opium,  felt  a  strange  cowardice  choking  his 
every  utterance.  His  heart — his  whole  being — 
clamored  madly  for  speech.  Yet  his  lips  in  mis- 
erable fear  held  back  the  burning  words  that  beat 
against  them  for  egress. 

Maud  felt,  without  divining,  the  constraint  in 
his  tone.  His  words  were  pitiably  formal.  The 
speech  was  a  dash  of  cold  spray  in  her  face. 

"  We  can  never  thank  you  as  we  should,"  she 
replied,  and  her  own  voice  was  unconsciously 
colder. 

"  I  have  told  you  it  was  not  I  who  should  re- 
ceive your  gratitude.  I  was  but  the  instrument. 
And  now,  I  beg  you  won't  think  me  ungracious 
when  I  say  I  think  it  is  best  that  I  should  not  pro- 
long my  stay. ' ' 

The  unwonted  coldness  in  her  voice  had  cut  him 
cruelly  and,  lover-like,  he  had  lost  no  time  in  mis- 
construing it. 

"  We  would  not  dream  of  urging  you  against 
your  will, ' '  she  answered.  * '  Of  course  there  must 


302      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

be  many  interests  you  have  sacrificed  to  come  here 
and " 

' '  No,  no !  "he  protested.  '  *  I  have  only  one  in- 
terest in  all  this  whole  world.  Only  one  hope,  one 
aim,  one  longing.  And  that  lies  here." 

She  averted  her  head  to  hide  the  hot  flush  that 
swept  face  and  brow.  She  sought  to  speak,  but 
her  voice  deserted  her.  And  even  so,  in  the  flood 
tide  of  his  declaration  did  Walter  Cochran  's  cour- 
age depart.  For,  in  his  crass  ignorance  of  love 
and  the  ways  of  women  he  read  unwillingness  to 
listen,  perhaps  even  aversion,  in  her  sudden  turn- 
ing away  from  him.  Faith  and  ordinarily  firm 
nerves  are  but  sorry  allies  when  a  tyro  at  love 
seeks  to  propose.  In  dire  fear  lest  he  be  thought 
to  press  a  suit  that  was  patently  unwelcome,  he 
added  awkwardly: 

"  My  interest  in  your  brother's  case  has  been 
greater  than  you  realize.  I ' 

A  little  gasp  interrupted  him.  The  girl,  her 
cheeks  still  flaming,  but  her  eyes  no  longer 
averted,  faced  him. 

11  I  think  I  understand,"  she  said  unsteadily, 
"  and  I  appreciate  your  interest  in — my  brother. 
He  and  I  will  always  remember  your  friendship. 
It's  pleasant,  isn't  it,"  she  went  on  with  a  forced 
laugh,  "  to  be  able  to  form  a  jolly,  frank  friend- 
ship with  a  man?  It's  more  unusual  than  most 
people  suppose.  I  am  very  fortunate." 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE     303 

She  was  carrying  it  off  well.  But  not  well 
enough  to  have  deceived  any  less  confused  mortal 
than  Walter  Cochran.  Her  laugh  and  careless 
words  grated  on  his  senses  like  a  file. 

"  I  think  I  will  have  just  time  to  pack  for  the 
three  o'clock  train,"  he  said.  "  You  will  excuse 
me  if  I  go  up  now  and  begin?  " 

"  Of  course.  If  you  really  must  leave  us  so 
soon,"  she  responded  with  delightful  formality, 
and  turned  to  arrange  some  flowers  at  a  table 
near  by. 

Her  back  was  turned  to  him.  He  stood  dumbly 
watching  her  as  she  gathered  up  the  heap  of  flow- 
ers and  placed  them  one  by  one  in  a  Cloisonne 
bowl.  She  knew  he  was  still  there  and  in  artless 
abandon  began  to  hum 

11  Parlate-le  de  I' amor, 
Carifior'." 

Not  being  musical,  Walter  wholly  missed  the 
ironic  suggestiveness  of  the  song.  But  he  noted 
the  white  slenderness  of  her  fingers  amid  the  crim- 
son glory  of  the  roses,  and  the  winter  sunlight's 
play  upon  her  soft  hair.  She  thrust  one  rose 
through  her  braids  as  she  sang  and  worked,  ap- 
parently ignorant  of  his  continued  presence  in  the 
room.  Her  whole  course  of  action  suggested  opera 
bouffe.  But  it  was  that  or  tears ;  and  she  bravely 
chose  the  former  alternative. 


304      THE   HOUSE    OF, DEFENCE 

The  rose,  top  heavy  and  weak  of  stem,  fell  from 
her  hair  to  the  floor  behind  her.  Cochran  knelt 
to  pick  it  up.  It  was  warm,  glowing,  redolent  of 
her  sweet  personality.  Instinctively,  her  back  be- 
ing turned,  he  crushed  the  flower  to  his  lips. 

Then  her  singing  ceased — abruptly,  even  inar- 
tistically. 

"  You  are  not  going  away!  "  she  announced 
with  pretty  decision. 

"  W — why  not?  "  he  asked  in  bewilderment, 
scrambling  to  his  feet.  She  had  not  turned. 

"  Because,"  she  replied  demurely,  "  because  I 
happened  to  be  looking  into  this  mirror  just  now. 
I  couldn't  see  myself.  It  was  at  the  wrong  angle. 
But — but  I  could  see  you." 

Now  blessed  be  the  man  who  invented  mirrors ! 
And  out  upon  him  who  prates  against  them  as 
useless  promoters  of  vanity ! 

Cochran  stared,  stupid,  dumfounded,  for  a 
whole  second.  Then  he  regained  his  sanity. 

' '  I  love  you !  "  he  said. 

That  was  all.  Gravely,  simply,  like  two  little 
children,  they  kissed  each  other,  while,  above  them, 
ungratefully  forgotten,  the  tiny  wall  mirror  blazed 

back  the  thousand  dazzling  rays  of  the  winter  sun. 

******** 

Walter  Cochran 's  suggestion  had  been  quite 
right,  and,  half  an  hour  later,  Thurso  came  back 
drenched  with  the  storm,  for  he  had  put  on  neither 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     305 

hat  nor  coat,  with  the  doctor  from  Port  Wash- 
ington. A  minute  later  a  highly-affronted  physi- 
cian left  again,  wondering  if  it  was  a  form  of 
English  humor  to  drag  a  man  out  on  a  night  like 
this,  saying  that  Mr.  Cochran  had  inadvertently 
taken  a  huge  dose  of  laudanum,  only  to  find  Mr. 
Cochran,  who,  if  he  had  done  so,  would  certainly 
by  now  have  lost  consciousness,  looking  rather 
annoyed  at  the  interruption,  but  otherwise  bril- 
liantly well.  But  a  glance  at  the  face  of  his  com- 
panion was  sufficient  to  account  for  his  annoyance. 


CHAPTER   XI 

LILY  THURSO  was  returning  home  to  Thurso 
House  the  next  afternoon  about  four  o  'clock.  She 
had  been  lunching  out,  and  people  were  coming 
to  dinner,  but  she  had  a  good  deal  to  do  before 
that,  and  a  good  deal  to  think  about.  Also,  there 
would  be  for  her  a  telegram  from  Maud,  who 
cabled  to  her  every  day,  and  she  was  anxious  to 
see  what  it  was. 

Ever  since  the  departure  of  her  husband  and 
sister-in-law  to  America  her  hands  had  been  very 
full,  and  she  had  devoted  more  time  than  usual 
to  purely  social  duties.  For  she  knew  quite  well 
that  London  had  talked  a  good  deal  about 
Thurso 's  "  illness,"  in  that  particular  tone  which 
means  that  in  public  and  to  her  it  was  referred 
to  as  "  illness  "  in  the  abstract,  but  when  two  or 
three  only  were  gathered  together  it  was  dis- 
cussed far  more  in  detail.  With  her  unerring 
tact,  therefore,  and  knowledge  of  the  world,  she 
knew  that  the  more  she  was  seen  about,  the  more 
she  entered  into  the  life  of  the  place,  the  less  pub- 
lic the  scandal  was  likely  to  be.  With  all  its 
faults,  the  world  respects  bravery  and  the  power 
of  facing  things  (and  certainly  she  had  faced  them 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE      307 

magnificently),  with  the  result  that  already  the 
world  had  begun  to  think  that  it  was  rather  a 
"  shame  "  to  talk  about  Thurso  when  Lily  was 
so  gallant.  It  would  very  much  have  liked  to 
know  why  she  had  not  gone  with  him,  but  still,  on 
the  whole,  it  was  a  "  shame  "  to  talk.  And  since 
the  memory  of  the  world  resides  in  its  tongue,  it 
follows  that  it  soon  forgets  when  it  ceases  to  talk. 
It  was  understood,  however,  that  Thurso 's  case 
was  hopeless. 

Lily  had  thought  so,  too.  He  had,  as  has  been 
seen,  refused  to  say  good-by  to  her,  but  from  her 
window  she  had  seen  his  face  as  he  got  into  the 
carriage  which  took  him  and  Maud  to  the  sta- 
tion, and  it  seemed  to  her  that  death  was  already 
there,  so  that  she  had  not,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
expected  that  he  would  reach  America  alive. 
During  those  days  she  had  thought  more  deeply 
and  earnestly  about  it  all  than  she  had  ever 
thought  before  in  her  very  busy  but  unemotional 
life,  and  with  her  whole  heart  she  had  forgiven 
him  for  the  sufferings  and  indignities  he  had 
brought  on  her  during  these  last  six  months. 
Whether  he  would  ever  read  her  letter  or  not,  she 
did  not  know,  but  some  five  days  after  their  de- 
parture she  had  written  to  him,  quite  shortly, 
but  quite  sincerely,  bidding  him,  if  any  thought 
of  pain  or  sorrow  came  to  him  for  the  pain  he 
had  brought  on  her,  to  dismiss  it  as  absolutely 


308      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

as  she  had  dismissed  any  wrong  he  had  done  her, 
and  devote  himself  entirely  to  getting  well.  It 
had  cost  her  a  great  deal  to  do  that,  for  just  as 
she  was  very  slow  to  take  offence,  so  she  was 
naturally  very  slow  to  forgive,  and  the  events  of 
these  last  six  months,  with  that  crowning  indig- 
nity, had  bitten  very  deeply  into  her. 

Then  had  come  the  telegram  from  Maud  on 
their  arrival  at  New  York.  It  told  her  that  he 
had  taken  laudanum  again,  that  he  had  forged 
ihe  name  of  the  doctor,  but  that  he  had,  after  one 
dose,  allowed  her  to  throw  the  bottle  away.  His 
general  health,  it  said,  was  rather  improved. 
Three  more  telegrams  reporting  the  events  of 
three  more  days  had  come  since  then,  each  re- 
cording improvement,  and  it  was  this  fourth  that 
she  was  expecting  to  find  now  on  her  return. 

But,  as  she  drove  now  through  the  streets,  where 
the  shops  were  gay  for  Christmas  purchasers,  she 
knew  that  this  was  not  half  the  stress  of  the  emo- 
tional conflict  that  was  going  on  in  her.  Matters, 
as  was  inevitable,  had  come  to  a  crisis  between 
her  and  Kudolf  Villars,  and  two  days  ago  he  had 
declared  to  her  the  steadfast  and  passionate  de- 
votion that  he  had  always  felt  for  her.  But  he 
had  refused  to  go  on  any  longer  on  this  present 
footing  of  friendship.  Should  she  now  definitely 
reject  his  devotion,  he  would  not  see  her  again, 
except  as  was  necessary  in  the  casual  meetings, 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE     309 

when  the  world  brought  them  together.  And  she 
had  promised  to  give  him  his  answer  this  evening, 

She  had  really  no  idea  at  this  moment  of  what 
it  would  be.  Months  ago  she  had  determined  that 
she  would  not  herself  break  that  moral  law, 
though  she  did  not  really  believe  in  it.  But  since 
then  much  had  happened;  ruin  and  degradation 
had  come  to  her  husband;  he  had  offered  her  the 
greatest  insult  that  from  the  point  of  this  moral 
law  a  wife  can  be  offered,  and,  what  was  a  far 
more  vital  and  determining  fact  in  her  choice,  she 
knew  now  that  she  loved  Rudolf  Villars,  and  with 
an  intensity  that  she  believed  equal  to  his.  Could 
the  moral  law  that  tied  her  to  an  opium-drenched 
wreck  sever  her  from  this  other  man? 

And  then  suddenly  she  remembered  the  letter 
she  had  written  to  Thurso.  She  had  told  him 
that  the  past  was  utterly  blotted  out.  Had  she 
only  said  that  because  she  meant  to  console  her- 
self in  the  future?  Or  had  she  said  it  because 
she  did  not  believe  he  would  live?  No,  she  had 
said  it  because  the  best  part  of  her  meant  it.  But 
just  now  that  best  part  seemed  dwindled  to  a 
mere  pin's  head  in  her  consciousness.  Love  and 
life  and  desire  were  trumpets  and  decorations  to 
her;  that  little  gray  tattered  flag  of  honor  was 
scarcely  visible  among  the  miles  of  bunting  and 
the  blare  of  the  welcome  that  would  be  hers  if 
she  said  one  word  to  her  lover. 


310      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

Her  victoria  had  already  stopped  at  her  door, 
and  the  footman  had  turned  back  the  sable  rug 
to  let  her  get  out,  but  she  sat  for  a  moment  quite 
still,  for  the  thought  had  hit  her  like  a  blow.  Till 
it  came  she  had  not  known  how  nearly  she  had 
decided;  now  that  it  had  come  she  could  not  for 
the  moment  estimate  how  it  would  affect  her 
decision.  Only  for  the  moment  it  was  stunning. 
She  had  told  her  husband  that  the  past  was  wiped 
out — all  that  he  had  said  or  done  which  had  been 
unjust  and  insulting  to  her  she  had  cancelled, 
annihilated  as  far  as  it  concerned  her.  Was  she 
then  going  to  make  a  fresh  past  on  her  own  ac- 
count? To  give  him  an  opportunity  to  be  as 
generous  as  she?  There  was  a  sort  of  ironical 
fitness  about  this  that  she  could  not  help  being 
amused  at,  though  it  concerned  things  as  vital  as 
sin  and  forgiveness. 

And  as  she  got  out  of  her  victoria  and  entered 
the  house  she  endorsed  that  to  herself.  She  would 
have  written  that  letter  over  again  to  Thurso  at 
this  moment,  and  have  expresed  it  even  more 
strongly.  All  that  was  implied  in  it,  too,  she 
would  have  endorsed.  But  in  spite  of  the  tele- 
grams of  these  last  three  days  she  did  not  really 
believe  that  he  would  live. 

There  was  some  dozen  of  letters  for  her  on 
the  table  in  the  hall,  and  a  telegram  lay  a  little 


apart.  As  she  picked  all  these  up  she  spoke  to 
her  major-domo. 

"  I  shall  be  in  to  anybody  until  six,"  she  said. 
"  If  Count  Villars  calls  after  that,  I  shall  be  in 
to  him." 

11  Yes,  my  lady." 

There  were  two  little  hats  and  two  little  coats 
hanging  up  in  the  hall.  She  looked  at  these  for 
a  moment,  feeling  that  they  ought  to  convey  some- 
thing to  her,  but  she  did  not  quite  know  what. 
Then  she  remembered  that  her  two  sons  were  due 
at  home  to-day. 

"  Lord  Stratton  and  Lord  Henry  have  come?  " 
she  asked. 

' '  Yes,  my  lady ;  they  arrived  an  hour  ago. ' ' 

Again  she  paused  a  moment. 

"  Let  them  know  that  I  have  come  in.  They 
can  come  and  have  their  tea  with  me  in  the  draw- 
ing-room in  ten  minutes.  And  a  boiled  egg  for 
them  each,"  she  added. 

She  frowned  to  herself,  still  not  going  up  that 
staircase  that  had  been  the  hay-field  of  wild  flow- 
ers to  her  but  last  summer,  wondering  at  her  in- 
decision. Then  she  spoke  again. 

"  I  am  in  to  no  one  but  Count  Villars,"  she 
said.  "  But  toll  the  young  gentlemen  to  come 
down  and  have  tea  with  me." 

The  past  was  dead,  she  had  said  that,  but  there 
was  something  in  the  past,  these  two  boys  whom 


312      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

she  had  never  found  particularly  interesting, 
which  the  death  of  the  past,  in  the  sense  that  she 
had  promised  it  to  her  husband,  made  more  alive. 
It  was  the  wretchedness  and  alienation  of  the  past 
that  she  had  meant  and  implied  should  be  dead; 
she  willed  it  more  surely  by  caring  for  that  which 
was  truly  vital  in  it,  by  neglecting  no  longer  that 
and  those  whom  she  had  neglected  too  much.  She 
was  not  sorry  for  her  neglect  of  them  in  the  past ; 
but,  if  Thurso  lived,  the  letter  she  had  written 
to  him  had  to  be  fulfilled  to  its  utmost.  Even  now 
she  recognized  that  the  two  children  could  help 
to  stab  the  bitterness  of  the  past  to  death.  She 
was  their  mother,  and  though  for  all  these  years 
she  had  forgotten  the  joy,  just  as  she  had  for- 
gotten the  pains  of  maternity,  it  was  not  wholly 
dead.  Yet  Villars.  Would  it  perhaps  be  better 
not  to  see  him,  then?  She  could  hardly  do  that. 
She  had  promised  him  her  answer,  and  she  never 
shirked  a  promise.  Yet,  even  now,  she  did  not 
know  what  her  answer  would  be.  She  was  doing 
no  more  than  adding  up  her  accounts,  seeing  what 
she  owed  to  everybody  all  round. 

All  this  passed  very  quickly  as  she  went  up- 
stairs. Then  she  paused  underneath  the  electric 
light  at  the  top  and  opened  the  telegram.  She 
looked  first  at  the  end  of  it,  as  is  natural  in  read- 
ing a  telegram,  and  expecting  to  see  Maud 's  name. 
But  it  was  signed  "  Thurso." 


THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE     313 
Then  she  read  it: 

' '  I  am  cured,  and  am  perfectly  well.  I  humbly 
entreat  your  pardon,  though  your  letter  so  gener- 
ously grants  it.  Shall  I  come  back,  or  could  you 
possibly  come  out  here?  I  must  see  you  as  soon 
as  possible.  THUESO." 

She  read  it  once,  she  read  it  once  more,  as  if  to 
be  sure  of  the  sense  of  this  incredible  thing. 
Could  it  be  a  hoax?  If  so,  who  could  have  played 
so  grim  a  joke?  She  looked  at  the  hour  at  which 
it  was  sent  off,  the  hour  at  which  it  had  arrived. 
Then  she  read  it  once  more,  and  folded  it  up. 

"  But  it  is  incredible,"  she  said  to  herself. 
"  Miracles  don't  happen." 

She  passed  into  the  drawing-room,  looking  con- 
sciously round  at  the  tapestries,  the  brocaded  fur- 
niture, the  warm,  mellow  light  of  the  shaded 
lamps,  as  if  to  assure  herself  that  this  was  not 
a  dream.  She  opened  a  letter  or  two,  but  they 
were  quite  ordinary  and  commonplace ;  there  was 
an  invitation  or  two  to  dinner,  there  were  a  few 
acceptances  of  her  invitations,  and  all  were  signed 
with  familiar  names.  Already,  too,  a  footman 
was  laying  the  table  for  tea — he  had  drawn  two 
high  chairs  to  the  table  and  had  put  a  plate  and 
an  egg-cup  opposite  each.  Everything  except  this 
telegram  indicated  that  the  world  was  going  on 


314      THE   HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE 

in  its  normal  manner.  She  had  ordered  a  boiled 
egg,  as  a  treat,  for  each  of  the  children.  There 
were  the  egg-cups. 

The  children?    Whose?    Hers  and  Thurso's. 

Thurso  was  cured,  so  he  said.  He  besought  her 
forgiveness.  Her  children  were  coming  down  to 
tea  with  her.  She  expected  Villars.  That  was 
enough  to  think  about  for  the  few  minutes  that 
would  elapse  before  the  children  came. 

How  bourgeois  all  situations  were  when  they 
actually  occurred !  But  how  deadly,  when  it  actu- 
ally occurred,  was  the  struggle  between  that  old 
fetich  called  Morality  or  Duty  and — and — well, 
anything  else.  She  had  really  no  idea  what  this 
fetich  was  like — she  had  been  pure  because  she 
had  been  untempted.  Now  the  fetich  was  re- 
vealing its  face.  But  all  these  years  she  had  been 
kind ;  she  had  been  generous ;  she  had  had  the  in- 
stinct for  helping  what  or  whoever  suffered. 
That,  too,  helped  to  mould  the  face  of  the  fetiches 
that  were  unveiling  themselves. 

The  message  that  the  children  were  to  come 
down  to  tea  had  not  been  productive,  up  above, 
of  immediate  rapture.  Stratton,  aged  eleven, 
had  said  "  Oh,  bother!  "  and  Henry,  aged  ten, 
had  said  "  Shall  we  have  to  stop  long?  '  Their 
mother  was  a  radiant  but  rather  terrifying  vision 
to  them.  She  was  usually  doing  something  else, 


THE    HOUSE    OF   DEFENCE     315 

and  mustn't  be  interrupted.  That  summed  up 
their  knowledge  of  her. 

Still,  down  below  there  was  nervousness  also. 
But  she  remembered  some  curious  cards  that  had 
once  produced  shouts  of  laughter,  when  the  chil- 
dren were  playing  with  their  father.  They  con- 
cerned Mr.  Bones,  the  butcher,  and  other  legend- 
ary people.  She  remembered  the  day,  too,  a  wet 
afternoon  at  the  end  of  July,  when  they  had 
played  with  them,  and  went  to  a  cupboard  in  the 
drawing-room  where  cards  could  usually  be  found, 
and  discovered  these  images  of  joy.  The  children 
were  going  to  have  eggs  also  at  their  tea.  That 
was  a  treat,  too. 

They  came  in  soon  after,  rather  shy,  and  very 
anxious  to  "  behave."  But  insensibly,  with  the 
instinct  of  children,  they  saw  that ' '  behavior ' '  was 
really  not  necessary.  That  radiant  vision  begged 
a  spoonful  of  Henry's  egg,  and  asked  Stratton 
if  he  could  not  spare  one  corner  of  the  delicious 
toast  which  he  had  buttered  for  himself. 

There  was  good  news  also.  Father  was  away 
— and  some  nameless  dagger  pierced  her  as  she 
realized  that  this  was  the  first  they  had  heard  of 
it — and  he  had  been  ill.  But  he  was  ever  so  much 
better,  quite  well  in  fact,  and  soon  he  was  com- 
ing back  home,  or  else  mamma  was  going  out  to 
see  him — yes,  to  America,  miles  away.  What 
ocean?  Atlantic,  of  course. 


316      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

Soon  there  was  no  thought  in  the  children's 
minds  of  how  long  it  was  necessary  to  stop.  The 
wonderful  cards  were  produced,  and  they  all  sat 
on  the  hearth-rug,  and  mamma  was  too  stupid 
for  anything — "  Why,  she  had  the  whole  suit  of 
Mr.  Bones  the  butcher  in  her  hand  and  never  de- 
clared it. ' '  So  Henry  got  Mr.  Bones  the  butcher, 
and  with  devilish  ingenuity  retained  it,  instead 
of  passing  it  on  to  Stratton,  who  might,  without 
thinking,  have  passed  it  back  to  mamma,  who 
might  then  have  seen  how  silly  she  had  been. 

The  game  was  deliriously  exciting  when  an  in- 
terruption came,  and  Stratton  again  said,  "  Oh, 
bother!  "  But  mamma  did  not  get  up  from  the 
hearth-rug.  The  children,  however,  were  told  to 
do  so. 

11  Get  up,  boys,"  she  said,  "  and  shake  hands 
with  Count  Villars.  But  don't  let  me  see  your 
cards.  I  am  going  to  win.  How  are  you,  Villars  ? 
The  boys  are  just  home  from  school.  This  is 
Stratton;  this  is  Henry.  Do  give  yourself  some 
tea,  and  be  kind,  and  let  us  finish  our  game." 

Lily  Thurso  again  proved  herself  a  perfect 
idiot,  and  Henry  threw  down  his  cards  with  a 
shriek. 

' '  All  the  Snips,  the  tailors !  "  he  cried. 

* '  Oh,  you  little  beast, ' '  cried  his  mother,  * '  and 
I  have  all  the  Bones  but  one!  Now,  go  upstairs, 
darlings,  and  take  the  cards  with  you,  if  you  like. ' ' 


THE   HOUSE   OF  DEFENCE     317 

"  And  is  papa  coming  home  I  "  asked  Stratton. 

"  I  don't  know  yet.    Off  you  go!  " 

"  And  are  we  to  say  good-by  to  him?  "  asked 
Henry  in  a  whisper. 

"  Yes,  of  course.  You  must  always  say  good- 
by  when  you  leave  the  room." 

There  was  silence  for  a  moment  after  the  boys 
had  gone.  Lily  broke  it. 

"  I  have  just  had  a  telegram  from  America," 
she  said.  "  Thurso  sent  it.  He  is  better.  He 
says  he  is  cured.  He  asks  me  if  I  will  go  there, 
or  if  he  shall  come  back." 

She  was  still  sitting  on  the  hearth-rug  where 
she  had  played  with  her  sons.  But  here  she  got 
up. 

"  I  think  I  shall  go  to  him,"  she  said,  and  she 
raised  her  eyes  to  his. 

And  then  the  Adelphi  melodrama  broke  down — 
it  began  to  be  played  on  utterly  unconventional 
lines.  He  should  have  been  the  villain  of  the 
piece,  and  she  the  guttural  heroine.  But  he  was 
not  a  villain  any  more  than  she  was  a  heroine. 

"  I  think  I  have  always  loved  you,"  she  said. 
'  *  But  I  can 't  be  mean — not  intentionally,  at  least. 
Thurso  appeared  to  be  beyond  human  .power. 
But  he  says  he  is  well.  He  asks  my  forgiveness — 
he  had  it  already,  but  he  asks  it.  So  I  must  go 
to  him. ' ' 


318      THE   HOUSE   OF   DEFENCE 

He  stirred  his  tea  in  a  perfectly  commonplace 
way,  and  drank  it. 

"  Say  something,"  she  said. 

Then  he  got  up. 

' '  I  say  you  are  doing  right, ' '  he  answered.  ' '  I 
came  to  ask  for  your  answer,  and  I  have  got  it." 

He  moved  towards  the  door.  Then  he  came 
back  quickly. 

"  God  bless  you!  "  he  said. 

Two  days  afterwards  Lily  came  up  on  to  the 
deck  of  the  White  Star  liner  on  which  she  was 
travelling.  The  sun  had  just  sunk,  but  in  the 
East  the  crescent  moon  was  rising,  and  in  the 
West,  whither  she  was  journeying,  there  was  still 
the  afterglow  of  sunset.  She  was  leaving  the  East 
where  the  moon  was,  but  she  was  moving  towards 
that  other  light.  And  she  was  content  that  it 
should  be  so — she  who  had  schemed  so  much  and 
planned  so  much  would  not  have  had  it  different. 
The  West,  too,  where  she  was  going,  had  meant 
so  much  for  Thurso — it  had  meant  all  for  him. 
It  was  far  easier  to  weigh  the  moon  than  to  weigh 
the  veiled  light  of  the  sunken  sun.  She  had  re- 
nounced, blindly,  it  might  be.  If  for  her,  too,  in 
the  West,  in  the  afterglow 

THE   END. 


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AN  ACT  IN  A  BACKWATER 

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the  authors  range  of  acquaintances  and  his  knowledge  of  the  subject 
are  exceptional,  and  in  this  amusing  and  striking  picture  of  life  as 
it  is  lived  in  London  he  has  utilized  his  opportunities  to  the  full. 

— Pittsburg  Press. 


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THE  VINTAGE 

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